Congratulations to the RAF Police Project Blueprint Team who have won the 2022 Astra Innovation Award.
Squadron Leader John Barrowcliff and Flight Sergeant Si Ball from the RAF Police Project Blueprint Team were honoured to be presented with the 2022Astra Innovation Award during the awards ceremony which celebrated innovative ideas and creativity from across the RAF.
“Winning this year’s Astra award for Innovation fittingly recognises an incredibly hardworking team that has committed themselves to delivering a project that truly makes a difference. I’m incredibly proud of the Project Blueprint team and what they have achieved to date. I am excited to see them start work on the future projects that I know they already have planned.”
Provost Marshal (RAF), Group Captain Russ Foster-Jones
The RAF Police Digitalisation Programme was created in 2020 to explore exactly how we could make technology work to enhance knowledge and increase efficiency. Project Blueprint, has been designed, built, and rolled out by a team of RAF Police. It is an in-house solution that has centralised all the RAF Police key policies, processes, and documentation, making them more accessible than ever. The app, which is installed onto a MOD iPad, is a one-stop shop for policy documents, templates, how-to guides, tutorials, videos, and links to subject matter expert capability pages. This provides a digital solution which improves the working practices of our police officers, and most importantly the investigative experience for victims of crime. Project Blueprint is now into the final stages and will be rolled out across the RAFP over the coming months.
“We find ourselves in a place of rapid and often radical global change, where the ability to maintain security against traditional and quickly emerging threats is critical to enabling the Royal Air Force to successfully prosecute its mission. As a police force, we need to be ready to respond to more complex criminality, requiring more specialist skillsets, set against the enduring challenge of increased demands on efficiency, effectiveness, and funding. We cannot afford to stand still in the increasingly digital world that we live in, which is why the team created Project Blueprint.”
Squadron Leader John Barrowcliff
Astra is the RAF’s journey to the next generation Air Force, and our people, their ideas, and their innovations are at the heart of its success. Our ability to think differently, challenge the status quo and innovate will be fundamental to our success. The Astra Awards celebrate the innovative achievements of individuals and teams across the RAF and provide a platform for networking, with each other and with our Industry Partners. Hundreds of people from across the whole force, including Service Personnel, Civil Servants, Industry Partners, and representatives from RAF Charities gathered in Sunderland Hall at the RAF Museum for an evening of sharing ideas and celebrating Astra achievements. Astra has had many successes in the past year and these awards recognised some of the most inspirational people, ingenious ideas, and the incredible impact they’ve had on operations in the UK and overseas.
