The Police National Computer (1)
01 January 1991
The Police National Computer
bacdoc July=1991
Authorization for the Police National Computer Unit to be set
-up was given in 1969. The PNCU was, and still is, an
autonomous unit within the Home Office Police Department. The
Unit is based at Hendon and was initially equipped with two
Burroughs B6700 computers with a capacity to hold 40 million
records. Later a third was added increasing the capacity to the
present 60 million records. The system became operational in
1974.
The main indexes are as follows:
Stolen/suspect vehicles(437,450):records accessed through the
registration number, information relates to a description of
the vehicle and why it is in the index.
Stolen(Chassis, engine numbers)(711,873):access via engine
numbers.
Vehicle owners (35,384,795):contains entries, copy of, inform-
ation held at the Driver Vehicle Licensing Centre, Swansea -
plus vehicle owner's address.
Fingerprints(3,751,499):accessed via standard fingerprint
description.
Criminal names(5,164,206):contains names of convicted people
and their aliases, information includes physical description,
reference number to paper file held at national Criminal
Records Office, list of warnings. Accessed via name, age,sex,
colour, and height.
Wanted/missing persons(99,341):contains names of people whom
police actively want to interview.
The other categories are: fingerprints scene of
crime(6,930,988); Convictions(1,872,045); Major
investigations(376,868) and Crime pattern analyses(13,896)
(Figures taken from Hansard, 6.7.87).
Areas of concern in the past have largely been related to
information on the use of vehicles. In 1984 Harry Cohen MP. was
told by Home Office Minister Giles Shaw that the information
held on the largest category, vehicles owners, not only
included factual data but also `indicators which provide
additional information of use to the police'(Hansard,
13.10.84). The stolen/suspect vehicle index contains the
category `Of long-term interest to the police'(INT). Finally,
the criminal names index contains 19 `warning signals' which
in addition to very sensible warnings.e.g. `Weapons' - carries
weapons, also includes `Alleges' - makes false allegations
against police. The implications of these concern will be
examined further below.
Police National Computer 2(PNC2)
The present PNC has reached its full capacity and cannot
provide the back-up facilities to new technological
development. The current PNC provides a round-the-clock service
through 2,700 terminals throughout the country. There are
almost 100,000 transactions daily, and at peak times checks can
run at 8,000 an hour. In the year to October 1987 there were
more than 19 million checks on vehicle owners.
The scale of a new PNC led to the setting up of a special team
at the Home Office from April 1987 lead by Deputy Assistant
Commissioner John Newing from the Metropolitan Police. He is
assisted by Mr Alan Holt, from the DHSS where he was assistant
technical director of the team planning the computerisation of
the social security benefits system. In addition there are five
civilians, plus PNCU staff.
In the Winter 1987 issue of `Policing' John Newing set out the
main objectives of PNC2 as: (1) to increase the Police National
Computer contribution to the operational effectiveness of the
police service; (2) to improve the efficiency of the Police
National Computer Unit. PNC2, he writes, will have to provide
new facilities and cope with new demands. For example, the
introduction of mobile data terminals as standard equipment in
patrol cars will lead to a 300% increase in transactions.
He also outlines the new facilities which include FACES
(Electronic Witness Album), E-FIT(Electronic Photofit), and
AFR(Automatic Fingerprint recognition). In addition he foresees
the creation of a `unified national computerised records
bureau' to replace the mix of un-coordinated' central and local
records. This la