Police computer spreads dragnet across the UK

The cornerstone IT system used by all U.K. police forces is the Police National Computer, created in 1974. While it started with just a stolen vehicles database, it has been upgraded over the years to link to many other valuable databases, such as sex offender registries and license-plate surveillance tools.

The PNC uses a central Adabas database from Software AG, said Martin Howarth, business strategy manager for the Police Information Technology Organization (PITO), the U.K. agency that handles police IT procurement. While some of the PNC’s code dates back to 1990, its hardware has undergone periodic refreshes, the last of which was about two years ago, Howarth said.

Primary applications of the PNC include the criminal names database and a U.K. vehicle registry, Howarth said. Police can access the databases by calling their command and control center, where someone accesses the information for them. Police can also access the PNC with mobile handsets, he said. Users of the PNC see a variety of interfaces, most of which are Windows-based GUIs, Howarth said.

“What we provide is online access to all police systems … so forces can access all of these systems, all this information, nationally,” Howarth said.

The system is heavily used. The PNC executed more than 101 million transactions, a 10% increase year-over-year, according to PITO’s annual report for 2004/2005.

However, the report said the PNC is becoming increasingly dated technology, and operating costs are “higher than should be the case.” But despite the increased use, the PNC experiences only minimal downtime, Howarth said.

Over the last three years, the PNC has employed newer technology to link its databases. Developers have used an XML layer to connect to systems such as the Violent Offender and Sexual Offender database and Airwave, a secure digital data and communication network, Howarth said.

“To be fair, this is not an [service oriented architecture], but it provides those type of functions in the sense of that we have a generic core from outside, which we can then translate into,” Howarth said.

Oracle databases are used for those systems that lie outside but are linked to the PNC, Howarth said. Developers used Java 2 Platform Enterprise Edition to build the XML framework, Howarth said.

Over the next five years, officials will plan how they can offer a wider range of intelligence information nationally that can be searched by police forces, Howarth said. “We are happy with the way we are going forward,” he said.