Firm Profile

It could be said that this Company was created as a direct result of skills accumulated throughout Barry’s employment from the very beginnings of his Commercial life.

His first employment as an Analytical Chemist in the Precious Metals field introduced him to the necessity of logical, analytical thoughts and techniques to provide the critically required accurate results.

Moving on to a career in the printing ink industry with Coates Brothers/ Malcolm Wade he again was required to analyse information and Customer requirements to develop new products.

A step further into a post of Works Chemist for a manufacturing Company, Pembroke Packaging, introduced him to problem solving based on the analysis of information, knowledge of product and production, and the implementation of new techniques as necessary.

It was whilst at this company that Barry took the boldest step yet, moving into the Essex Police Force. Here, knowledge, especially of the Law’ was critical. But so were the skills involved in interacting with people, both internally and with people outside the Police. Communication skills in such a role are critical, since miscommunication can have direct adverse physical effects. It was here that the importance of computers would really come to the fore.

Due to his interest Barry in computes he actively set out to obtain as much information, and as many skills as he could for the use of computers in the Police environment.

Barry Woods served as a Constable with Essex Police for nearly 23 years before his retirement.

During his Service with Essex Police his duties ranged from Beat Officer to Counter-Terrorism Exercise Planning Officer and across the whole gamut in between. This wide spread of duty types enhanced his understanding of relationships between Organisations; whilst emphasising the importance of communicating with the individuals within these Organisations.

His work in many overlapping fields necessitated the identification of problem areas, the analysis of those problems to establish the chain of cause and effect; and the development of procedures to eliminate or reduce the original problem. In many cases it was the use of I.T. that was most useful, and so he developed a wide understanding of how computers can be used to enhance basic procedures, and increase efficiency. Major improvements in the efficient use of Information can be achieved by the use of Databases.

Barry designed excel databases for many functions within Essex Police tailoring their construction to the requirements of the function.

He was responsible for designing an Excel Database system for use by the Search Trained Officers in Major Murder or Missing Person Investigations. It was first used in the Essex Murder case of Danielle Jones, before being taken to the Surrey Murder case of Amanda Dowler. Subsequently the System was taken around the Country as Barry was seconded to other Police Forces who needed his skills and his Database System to run major enquiries. It was used for the Cambridgeshire Murder case of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman., and the missing Norfolk child Daniel Entwhistle. Its latest use was the most complex, concerning the murder of five young women in Suffolk in 2006. That case required the creation of some new linking software so the Search information could be properly processed.

With each of these cases Barry would attend the Incident room of the relevant Police Force, together with Police Search Advisors from Essex, with the template for his system. He would have to acquire the relevant hardware for the Search Incident Room from the local Force; and then train the Search Officers who would run his system from scratch.

Needless to say the Implementation and Training of a brand new system to that Force on a ‘Live’ Enquiry was a fairly stressful undertaking, necessitating long hours for all concerned. However, once in place the system provided a concise, logical, accurate record of all searches undertaken which could easily be integrated with the requirements of the Criminal Justice system.

When Barry moved into the Counter-terrorism Exercise Planning field he used his computer skills to set up systems involving multiple other Agencies and Organisations to integrate communications into the overall Exercise Planning.

In line with his proficiency in the use of computers and the design of systems, Barry found that he was also training people to use computers in general, and in particular on the systems he had designed.

As his involvement in the I.T. increased Barry found it necessary to hone his problem solving abilities to take account of developing systems. This applied both to the actual computers themselves, and also to the physical and organisational aspects of the systems.

Having developed these skills in the Police environment Barry retired and now spends his time applying those skills in the Commercial and Private fields.

In the Commercial sector he provides a Problem Solving Service for Companies that are experiencing system problems, together with the creation of new systems including Databases tailored to the requirement of the Company. Tuition within Companies is strictly tailored to the requirements of the Company in every detail. Planning is undertaken to establish the exact requirements, lesson plans are produced and agreed with the Company. All manuals to provide the information are produced for the attendees, and the Presentations undertaken to achieve the desired results of that training.

In the Private sector he provides a Problem Solving Service for those with failing or problematical computers, together with a Home Tuition Service for those who wish to learn more about their computers.