Dowty Information Systems Ltd has beaten the most firmly entrenched suppliers to the police forces of the UK, Honeywell Bull Ltd and McDonnell Douglas Information Systems Ltd, to a UKP1.6m contract with the Kent County Constabulary. Kent is updating its current level of automation in an effort to prepare for extra workload envisaged when the Channel Tunnel finally opens in 1992. The new system will comprise two clustered DEC VAX 8350s front-ended by three MicroVAX 3500s. The Kent Force plans to network a number of its existing subsystems, including those for incident handling and command and control.