QUESTIONS are being asked about Surrey Police's use of public funds after a multi-million pound computer project was scrapped before it was ever used.
The Surrey Integrated Reporting Enterprise Network (SIREN) was commissioned by Surrey Police in 2009 but was abandoned last year.
Now an independent audit report has found at least £14.86 million has been wasted on the defunct project, which was meant to be used for logging crimes and information about suspects.
Police and Crime Commissioner Kevin Hurley said the report highlighting the major failure of the system and said it showed a "number of significant weaknesses" in set up for managing the system.
He said: "It is my opinion that the then Chief Constable of Surrey Police, Mark Rowley, must take responsibility for the failures of Surrey Police highlighted in today's report. It is my role on behalf of the public to hold the key person responsible for this debacle to account.
"Mr Rowley is no longer employed in Surrey, but if he were I would as PCC be considering how best to hold him to account. He is now employed by the Metropolitan Police Service. I will be writing to the Mayor for London Boris Johnson, responsible for policing, and the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, to take action as they see appropriate."
Current chief constable at Surrey Police Lynne Owens added: "This has been a challenging episode for Surrey Police and we welcome the Report's findings and its recommendations. There was a significant amount of public money spent, albeit over a number of years, on developing the SIREN project, which ultimately wasn't implemented. This is of course a matter of regret for us.
"The Report makes clear that external circumstances changed significantly between when the SIREN project started to when it was stopped.
"The problems that arose in the Force's handling of the SIREN project are not endemic, and the audit states Surrey Police has a proven record of successfully delivering change, including this being recognised by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabularies in 2013. However, we are not complacent and are continually improving how we deliver and govern change to ensure that spend is prioritised on supporting operational policing.
"Surrey Police has already made improvements since the handling of the SIREN project, as can be evidenced by the successful installation of Niche RMS which replaced SIREN as our new crime, case and custody ICT system. Other significant changes since the SIREN project include a Joint Procurement Team with Sussex, a new head of change role across Surrey and Sussex Police, a new shared Chief Information Officer role across both forces as well as new processes for governing and managing a wide range of on-going complex collaboration projects."
