Bio: Ricky is the Enterprise Architecture Team Lead at Police Digital Service (PDS), the UK organization responsible for coordinating, developing, delivering, and managing digital services and solutions that help policing harness technology safely to improve public safety. He has over a decade of experience in the UK policing technology sector, having worked both at local police force level and, more recently, on national-scale architecture, interoperability, and technology transformation initiatives at PDS.

Membership Details

Forum: The Open Group Architecture Forum

Membership Level: Silver 

Country: United Kingdom

Q. How long have you been involved with The Open Group? 

We have colleagues who have been TOGAF® certified for many years. However, as an organization we formally joined The Open Group in July 2025 to create new opportunities to engage with the wider architecture community and contribute to discussions on standards and best practice.

Q. What do you do, and how long have you been doing it? 

I am the Enterprise Architect (EA) Team Lead at Police Digital Service (PDS). I have been working in the UK policing technology sector for 14 years now, both directly with local police forces and more recently at a national level with PDS. 

My day-to-day responsibility is leading our EA team as we help policing navigate significant business and technology change. This includes, systems replacement and transformation, wider architectural information collection and insight activity, interoperability, and resilience enhancements to support both police forces and national projects and programmes. It really is varied work and that keeps us on our toes.

Q. Why did your organization become a Member of The Open Group Architecture Forum and what does/will your involvement look like? 

PDS joined The Open Group to strengthen the architectural foundations that support digital policing across the UK. Policing operates in a unique environment: 43 police forces plus national bodies and partner agencies, all rely on information flowing safely, consistently, and reliably across complex digital landscapes. To support this, PDS needs access to globally recognised best practice, open standards and a collaborative community of experts who design technology for organizations operating at scale and under pressure. 

Membership at The Open Group gives our organization access to the TOGAF® standard, the TOGAF Library, expert communities, working groups, and tools that help us bring greater coherence, resilience, and interoperability to policing’s digital services. 

Our involvement focuses on:

• Using the TOGAF® standard to uplift national policing architecture standards.
• Participating in relevant working groups such as information architecture, data integration, and security initiatives
• Bringing the perspective of a complex, mission-critical public safety environment into global standards discussions
• Collaborating with peers internationally to influence and shape the future of architecture practice

Q. How has/will membership in The Open Group benefit you, your organization, and the industry at large?

Membership gives me and other architects, designers and technical leaders access to world-class frameworks, reference models, and practitioner communities. This accelerates capability development, strengthens design assurance, and improves the quality and consistency of architectural outputs across PDS.

The membership enables PDS to translate global best practice into national standards, patterns and guidance tailored for policing. This brings more predictable integration between national and local systems, fewer duplicated solutions, clearer architectural guardrails, and better-informed decision making. Ultimately, this leads to more reliable, interoperable digital services for officers and staff.

The benefits are ultimately felt by officers, staff, and the public. By strengthening architecture across policing, the services that support investigations, safeguarding, emergency response, and public engagement become more resilient, more consistent, and better integrated. This supports faster access to the right information and delivers services the public can trust.

For The Open Group, PDS brings a fresh perspective from policing. Our participation contributes real-world insights into how open standards can support interoperability, security and long-term sustainability in complex, critical public service contexts. This adds value to the global architecture community and helps advance the evolution of industry frameworks, including the TOGAF® standard.

Date Published: July 29, 2026