Police forces examine intelligence sharing options

English and Welsh police forces are in discussions with Scottish police about using the technology behind the Scottish Intelligence Database (SID) to plug the gap until a national system is introduced by the government in two years.

The Home Office is set to introduce a national police intelligence system, called Impact, by 2007 as a direct result of the Bichard report into intelligence failures during the investigation of the Soham murders.

But some forces cannot afford to wait that long and are in negotiations with the vendors behind the SID, which cost £5.6m to build and £3m to manage and is used by 17,000 police officers in all eight Scottish forces.

ABM and Anite, which developed the hosted intelligence system, said they are in "advanced talks" with six forces, while another four are already using some of the technology. Forces opting to use it as an interim measure can decide whether to restrict access to their intelligence to local, regional or national forces.

John Shaw, worldwide MD at ABM, told silicon.com the estimated cost of using the system is 40 pence per officer in that force and said there will be no problems for forces that later move to the government's Impact intelligence system.

"This is a good stepping stone and will make the transition to Impact easier," he said.

Ian MacCandlish, detective superintendent and project manager of the SID, told silicon.com the system has brought significant improvements to Scottish policing.

"It is unparalleled. With one check on the database you get a full intelligence picture on each individual. Intelligence is what drives the police service."

As an example, MacCandlish said SID had allowed police to track a released convicted sex offender who had left one force's area to try and escape the prying eyes of the law.

This capability will be increased when SID is linked to the national violent and sex offender register (Visor) and the automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) database in the summer.

MacCandlish also said Scottish police will work to ensure that SID links in with whatever technological solution the Home Office decides upon for the national intelligence sharing system for English and Welsh police forces.

"There should be no national boundaries. We will be very keen to co-operate with anything the UK produces as part of the Bichard report. We will link in," he said.