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10.11 pm
The Minister of State, Home Office (Mr. David Maclean): I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Vale of Glamorgan (Mr. Sweeney) for initiating tonight's debate on police information technology. He has long had an interest in this important subject. I am grateful also to my hon. Friend the Member for City of Chester (Mr. Brandreth), who has been present throughout the debate. I know that he is also keen on this particular subject, hence his presence here tonight.
Immense opportunities are offered by technology in the ever more sophisticated fight against crime. The Government are committed to ensuring that the right technology is available to the police where and when it is needed. All forms of technology are being brought to bear in the constant fight against crime, and one area in which British technology is showing the way is the application of DNA techniques to crime detection.
The national DNA database went live in April 1995. The database is revolutionary. It is the first of its kind anywhere in the world and relies on leading-edge technology and up-to-date DNA techniques. I am delighted to announce that more than 100 hits have been made in the early months of operation, matching DNA profiles from individuals to profiles from traces left at scenes of crime, and profiles from traces left at one scene with those from another. The number of samples sent in by the police and the high number of profile matches already achieved bode well for the continuing success of the database.
Rapid access to information is the life-blood of operational policing and one of the key challenges facing the police service is how to take full advantage of the information technology revolution. The police are not newcomers to information technology. This year, the police national computer marks 21 years of service to the police community, and never has it been more relied on or more frequently used than it is now. In 1994, more than 47 million transactions were processed and 98 per cent. of customers considered the service to be either good or very good. However, the pace of change is quickening, and, even in the past year, several important milestones have been achieved.
Police effectiveness depends on the accuracy of the information that is available and also on how quickly it can be obtained and subsequently updated. To this end, Phoenix, a new database on the police national computer, became operational in May 1995. It allows the police to enter and retrieve records of arrests and convictions for all reportable offences directly rather than having to rely on the microfiche collection held at the national identification service. Phoenix will eventually be linked directly to the courts, the Crown Prosecution Service and the rest of the criminal justice service. That will ensure that records of convictions are promptly updated and that the judiciary has immediate access to the information on previous convictions which it requires for sentencing purposes.
The extremely complex task of transferring the microfiche records held by the NIS to Phoenix is now under way, and when complete it will form the kernel of a database of immense operational value to the police. I was delighted that we were able to invite forces to begin to enter records of cautions on to the system from
1 November. Until now, records of cautions have mainly been kept only by the force which issued them. In future they will also be available nationally.
We have a substantial programme of enhancements for Phoenix, which has been agreed with the police service. The first and most important of the enhancements will be QUEST, a database analysis facility that will allow investigators to search the collection for all offenders meeting particular descriptions. It will be a real advance in the investigation of serious crime.
Within a few more years, Phoenix will be linked to NAFIS, the national automated fingerprint identification system, which will provide the forces of England and Wales with a world-class system for the identification of offenders. NAFIS will incorporate the national fingerprint collection of over 5 million records, including those from cautioned offenders. It will be rolled out to the national identification service and eight pilot forces from the middle of 1997 and will achieve national coverage, replacing all existing fingerprint matching systems, by the year 2001. NAFIS will be a distributed system that will use police national network services for data communications. Common data and system services will be co-located with the police national computer.
What is the police national network? It is already in place as the communications backbone for the new developments to which I have referred. It provides a telephone network in addition to a data packet service and is tailored, as is Phoenix, to the needs of the police and to those of the wider criminal justice community. Provided by Mercury, the PNN is an excellent example of the way in which co-operation between the public and private sectors can work to the benefit of all.
Improved radio communications are a must for busy operational offices. The public safety radio communications project has been created to replace existing police service radio systems with the latest state-of-the-art digital technology and common European standards. It is envisaged that the systems will use new frequency bands reserved for public safety organisations throughout the European Union. After consultation with the Association of Chief Police Officers, the project will proceed to the next phase and directly involve the private sector via the private finance initiative.
The new systems will offer many advantages. Harmonised European frequencies will substantially reduce continental interference and high-grade encryption will see an end to illegal monitoring of police broadcasts. Mobile data facilities will allow access to remote databases such as criminal records and vehicle information. My hon. Friend the Minister for Vale of Glamorgan will be pleased to know that trials are already taking place in which radios in police vehicles are being linked to the police national computer. These developments will lead to more efficient and effective management of police resources. I know that my hon. Friend the Member for City of Chester will be interested to know that video cameras in police cars could be linked to the police national computer.
In addition to these centrally provided services, a wide range of computing applications are already installed in forces. We must ensure that the overall investment in police information technology, which is running at some £150 million a year, is used as effectively as it possibly can be. In this new technological age, the somewhat
artificial boundary between the centrally provided systems--the PNC, NAFIS and the PNN--and all the local systems will disappear. We now need to think about links between systems as much as the systems themselves if the full benefits are to be realised. That is why, at the end of last year, the Home Secretary launched the first ever national strategy for police information systems-- unfortunately nicknamed NATSPIS. This blueprint will ensure the development of cost-effective standard systems which meet the needs of all forces and will communicate with each other whenever necessary. That strategy is fully supported by chief constables and police authorities and is being driven forward by lead forces, which will develop standard systems with support from the centre.
My hon. Friend the Member for Vale of Glamorgan will be pleased to know that work on the top five priority applications--command and control, custody, management information, case preparation and crime reporting--is already under way. The case preparation application to be used by all forces will be linked to case management systems within other criminal justice organisations, such as the courts and the Crown Prosecution Service. Information fields available will include details of the availability of police officers and witnesses. That should help to reduce the number of adjournments and delays caused by the lack of relevant information in the courts. On a wider front, the initiative on co-ordination of computerisation in the criminal justice system--CCCJS-- seeks to improve communications throughout the criminal justice system through the use of appropriate technology. Recent pilot projects involve links between the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, Swansea, and Reading magistrates court and links between the DVLA and Dyfed Powys police for the direct provision of driver information and electronic mail links between various agencies in Suffolk and Hampshire including, on a test basis, solicitors and barristers in private practice.
My hon. Friend mentioned that improved methods for transcribing tape-recorded interviews should be considered. A working party comprising representatives of ACPO, the CPS and the Home Office is currently examining a number of alternative methods of passing details of police interviews to other agencies in the criminal justice system. That will include consideration of the feasibility of voice recognition computer technology. Independent research commissioned by the Home Office has demonstrated that records of taped interviews prepared by trained civilian summarisers cost less, are more accurate, and of a higher overall quality than those prepared by police officers with two fingers and the old Remington, which my hon. Friend mentioned. Following this research, the efficiency scrutiny which was published in July recommended that all forces should prepare and implement a programme to employ civilian summarisers.
I come now to the new police information technology organisation--PITO. There can be no doubt that the strategy heralds a new era in police computing and it demands some business process re-engineering to the way we do business in central Government. That is why we are considering proposals to set up a new police information technology organisation to take over from the current science and technology group in the Home Office. That will be the new centralised purchasing organisation, but the police will be in the driving seat, not the bureaucrats or me.
That new organisation will bring the police into the centre of decision making and allow both local and national developments to be looked at as an integrated whole. We propose to set up PITO next year on an interim basis with its own chief executive and advisory council on which the police service and police authorities will be represented, and then to move it on to a fully independent executive non-departmental public body as soon as we can find time for the necessary legislation. Those changes in strategies and structures will help us to maintain and co-ordinate momentum in a rapidly changing world. Division between police departments, forces and criminal justice agencies have to be transcended. Only if we are all working to a common end will we be able to turn the strategy into a reality.
In addition, as the whole House must agree, to this impressive set of computing and communications developments, other forms of technology are making a huge contribution to police effectiveness and public safety. Nowhere is technology moving faster than in the world of closed circuit television. There cannot be many people who have not noticed the recent spread of those watchful guardians. High streets, shopping centres, industrial estates, schools, villages, community centres and other areas have all benefited from the presence of the cameras. The police have embraced the new technology enthusiastically, sometimes running their own systems, but more often working in partnership with others such as local authorities or town centre management committees. CCTV is overwhelmingly popular, with the operators, the police and the general public.
I have seen the video that was issued earlier this week, "Caught in the Act". I can tell the House that it is of poor quality and hyped up by the producer to try to whet the appetites of a gullible public to buy it. I totally deplore the misuse of any CCTV material for unauthorised purposes, even poor-quality stuff like that, which will strain one's eyes if one tries to watch it. We strongly recommend that every CCTV system should have a code of practice. The bidding guidance for the CCTV competition, which was announced by my right hon. and learned Friend the Home Secretary recently, with £15 million of taxpayers' money to be bid for, makes it clear that each scheme must have a code of practice to guard against unauthorised disclosure of material.
There is no doubt that CCTV helps to prevent crime. It helps the police to detect crime. It assists with the investigation of crime. It gives the police extra, incontrovertible evidence to help prosecute and convict more criminals and--I know that my hon. Friends are particularly concerned about this point--it reduces the fear of crime among the general public. It also has other, less serious social benefits, such as finding lost children, spotting fires in the early stages and identifying people who have been taken ill on the street.
The results speak for themselves. My hon. Friend has already mentioned how the town of Barry benefits from CCTV. There are examples of crime reductions from all over the country. I shall give just a few of the most up-to-date cases. In the four years since the Newcastle scheme has been running, in the city centre there have been 6,200 fewer crimes. There have been 800 arrests due to the cameras, and in only six cases did the suspects plead not guilty. They were still found guilty.
In Swansea, in the year up to August 1994, there were 147 instances of taking from a motor vehicle. After the cameras were installed in December 1994 and up until August 1995, there have been just 10. In Northampton, there has been a 57 per cent. reduction in crime since the cameras were installed. In Berwick-upon-Tweed, a small town with a small-scale, four-camera system, burglary is down 69 per cent., criminal damage is down 41 per cent., and theft is down 24 per cent.
I could go on, but I will not. Everywhere that CCTV has been installed can give similar reports. CCTV works. As John Stevens, the excellent chief constable of Northumbria said recently:
We in the Government are doing our bit to help. Last year, we initiated a CCTV challenge competition, which eventually distributed £5 million to help fund 106 additional schemes throughout the country. That levered in £13.8 million of private and local council finance. Now
we have announced another competition. This time we are offering a total of £15 million and we hope that we can fund at least 300 schemes.
Individually, each of those systems and services is impressive and offers the police service many benefits, but, taken together, the contribution that the whole portfolio of information technology projects will make to operational policing will be much greater than the sum of its parts. The police service is spending £750 million on IT over the current five-year period. We are committed to helping the service to gain the maximum value from that huge investment, and to ensure that it will play its full part in the vital task of making our communities safer places.
"We are leading the world in CCTV technology and its use. In every case where cameras have been installed, crime has dropped and the number of arrests increased."
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