Whilst police constables in most forces are now equipped with body armour, Avon and Somerset Police are using it to protect another type of PC – their computers.
The force has installed Armagard’s Penc 300 compact computer enclosure in custody suites to protect their valuable new computer equipment and it has already withstood an attack.
The force needed the protection as the computer equipment identifies whether somebody is over the drink drive limit or not and the machine is often on the receiving end of disgruntled suspects.
‘The computer housed in this enclosure will display if somebody has failed a breathalyser test. Seeing such things can make some subjects irate.’ said Avon and Somerset’s information and technology officer, Adrian Mitchell.
Unfortunately this means the expensive computer equipment is within reach of occasionally aggressive suspects and that one in particular thought he would take his dismay out on the computer system after it gave a positive reading.
However, the computer was protected by an Armagard Penc 300, designed to withstand even the most severe shocks and despite the suspects best efforts the system remained undamaged.
“Unfortunately for him the computer cabinet came off better as the enclosure did exactly what it is designed to do.
“We are extremely pleased with the job the enclosure did, without it I’m fairly certain the subject would have ripped it from the wall but as it was there is hardly a mark on it -it certainly faired better than its attacker,” said Mr Mitchell.
He added: “We decided to use the enclosures because the custody suites are very busy, and in particular, these computer systems are housed next to the breathalyser machine and as they are fairly expensive pieces of equipment we were concerned about an incident such as this which is why we purchased the enclosures.:
He said that the force was so pleased with the job of the enclosures that they have already installed this year that they will be ordering several more and will install them in other custody suites in the near future.
“We are extremely pleased with the job the enclosures have done they are performing absolutely the way they are supposed to do,” added Mr Mitchell.
Our Enclosure in a Bristol police station
