The creation of the force’s in-house ICT department will see the end of a five-year partnership with Wiltshire Council.

Adrian Hudson, head of ICT since November last year who is leading the recruitment drive, said: “It’s quite apparent that the technical and security requirements of the police service is diverging from those of the council and so the partnership was logically coming to a conclusion.”

Wiltshire Police is seeking applicants for network and senior DevOps engineers and database administrators. A number of workers are being transferred from the council as well as recruiting new positons.

Phase one was launched early February and phase two in March. Phase three is the last external stage of the recruitment process.

The force has now moved to video interviewing due to the lockdown.

Mr Hudson said in the longer run the in-house department would “probably” be a more cost effective solution than the partnership with the council.

“I would like to build an ICT function which is at the forefront of providing technology to police officers. We want to be an innovative, agile, responsive force that meets our frontline requirements to deliver policing to the community," he said.

The new 38 employee department aims to give Wiltshire Police ICT capacities such as robotic functions that organise and sort data, AI and predictive technology, as well as “smarter” information sharing – all freeing up staff and officer time for other tasks.

Mr Hudson said: "We're seeing a huge increase in computer related crime so there are concerted attempts to attack the Critical Information Infrastructure, to attack as we saw last year with WannaCry in hospitals, attacking our critical infrastructure and public safety bodies.

“So we are in an evolving 3D model of threat and risk and harm. And we've got to deliver the best possible technology to ensure that we can protect our people and keep them safe.”

The decision to take it in-house was based on the desire to meet the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s IT standard set out in the Police Vision 2025.

Whilst the fact that the force came under cyber attacks following the Novichok incident in Salisbury in 2018 played a part in the need to strengthen the service’s ICT capacity, Mr Hudson said the move was about “a vision for policing nationally, which is done in different directions from local authorities and their agencies”.

Mr Hudson said the development of the department will result in smarter ways to share information between forces and to “operate with a national identity so you’re able to share information on a trusted basis much more easily”.

“Information sharing with other police forces and partner organisations will continue to be a really key priority for my department and wider policing,” he said.

Mr Hudson said he wanted to encourage a wider and more diverse workforce.

“It’s really important that the police service reflects the communities we serve and we’re seeking to identify and engage with communities who might be underrepresented in the wider police service and also in ICT,” he said.