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Home Office finalises police IT plan

£367m project gets 2010 end date

The government department has confirmed the funding to complete work on the National Police Database

Police minister Hazel Blears announced the plans, saying the Home Office would spend £367m, of which it has already provided £31m, to complete the work by 2010.

A spokesperson for the Home Office told Government Computing News: "The end game is for the Police National Database to be in place by 2010. It will be a single place for all the programmes to meet."

The most significant is the Information Management, Prioritisation, Analysis, Co-ordination and Tasking (Impact) programme for a searchable index system allowing police to access records data across geographical boundaries. It will include an Impact Nominal Index (INI), which is to hold over 30m names drawn from local records.

The programme will also:

  • standardise national data format and provide direct access to information through Impact Crisp (Cross Regional Information Sharing Project);
  • provide common standards for police information management through the Code of Practice on the Management of Police Information and its associated guidance;
  • replace the Police National Computer with the Police National Database.

The Criminal Justice Information Technology (CJIT) organisation is joining the programme as technical delivery partner for the Police National Database. The Police Information Technology Organisation will continue as technical delivery partner for the further development of the interim Impact systems and will transfer the Police National Computer onto new hardware.

Blears said: "This is a really important and positive step forward in delivering our commitments in response to Sir Michael Bichard's recommendations following the Soham murders and working with the police service to deliver more effective information management and information sharing.

"The Impact programme is already delivering new capabilities, and the development of a police national database will transform the way in which police share intelligence and other information.

"The programme will target offenders operating across force boundaries and help police more effectively prevent and detect crime, and bring more offenders to justice, contributing to our aims of building safer communities and greater public confidence."

This article was originally published at Kablenet.

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