The New York-based company said that Cumbria Constabulary, a force that serves some 500,000 people in Northwest England, will use the Mark43 data platform and become the technology provider’s inaugural customer in the U.K.
The Cumbria police force, which numbers nearly 1,300 officers and 700 civilian staff, will use the software for such tasks as writing reports, conducting investigations, deploying resources and offering victim care and community service.
“Cumbria has been on a really impressive tech journey, and they were looking for the next step,” Matt Polega, Mark43 co-founder and head of communications and public policy, told Government Technology.
While this deal marks the company’s tech debut in the U.K., Mark43 has already sold its software in Australia as well as the United States. In all, about 135 agencies have bought technology from Mark43, including departments in New South Wales, the District of Columbia, Boston, Seattle, San Antonio and Atlanta.
Polega said he was struck by the “willingness” of officials in the U.K. to make investments in law enforcement, and the company was “looking forward to more options in the U.K. and Australia.”
Before the deal was settled and announced, Mark43 employees accompanied Cumbria officers and visited stations and emergency response sites, taking part in meetings to make sure the company’s software offerings would meet the needs of the department.
“Our officers and staff use digital systems throughout their duties, and having them as streamlined and free of duplication as possible means more officers out on the beat or spending time keeping people safe,” said Cumbria Assistant Chief Constable Jonathan Blackwell in a statement. “This new technology is aimed at helping operational policing — the officers on the front line keeping our communities safe.”
The Mark43 announcement comes about a week after Aptumo, a utility software-as-a-service company from the U.K. that bills some 15 million households there and in Australia, said it would launch in the U.S. That is hardly the only recent international government technology deal, though the strength of that trend remains unclear.
As for Mark43, it last made news early in 2022 when it launched a Crisis Response Directory that offers examples from around the world about how law enforcement agencies and communities handle calls involving mental health and behavioral issues.
