New database will see improved information sharing

A specialist UK police unit has created and implemented an electronic criminal records database for Jamaica, which is set to improve the exchange of information between the two countries.

The £0.5 million project, undertaken by the Association of Chief Police Officers Criminal Records Office (ACRO) in conjunction with the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and the British High Commission, was completed in March and officially unveiled at an event in Jamaica on Friday (June 3).

The database replaces paper records held by the JCF.

The first phase of the project involved scoping, procuring and delivering IT, training and infrastructure, as well as converting half a million pre-existing fingerprint records into ‘skeleton’ records on the new database.

Money has been provided through the Home Office Conflict, Stability and Security fund.

As a result of the new system, the JCF is now able to quickly access details of people with previous convictions whose fingerprint records were uploaded into the database.

JCF teams are systematically working through the remaining paper records and converting them to electronic entries.

Further funding for a second section of the project, which will develop an interface between the new database and the fingerprint system already in place in Jamaica, has already been approved by the UK government.

Once completed, this will help streamline the process for biometric information sharing, which often proves crucial for investigating serious crimes both in the UK and abroad.

ACRO Senior Manager David McKinney, who led the project, said the database will be massively beneficial not just for the police in Jamaica but also for police and other agencies in the UK.

“We will have greater access to information about Jamaican nationals who come to the attention of police in the UK, as well as about UK nationals convicted of offences in Jamaica,” he said.

“In turn, that will help police and other agencies make better and timelier decisions about managing offenders. This is a significant project underpinned by a close working relationship between law enforcement and public protection agencies in the UK and Jamaica.”

The project will be used as a template for similar work being conducted by ACRO in Nigeria, which will also benefit from an upgraded criminal records management system.

British High Commissioner to Jamaica David Fitton said: “This database represents our continued commitment to working with the Jamaican government to improve the criminal justice system.

“Our cooperation on matters of national security continue to yield good results and we look forward to even more success. This technology will reduce the time spent in identifying criminals and allow security officials to focus on getting justice for victims.

“It will allow our security forces to continue the partnerships against transnational crime and protect citizens of our countries.”

Since March 2013, ACRO has had an Information Sharing Agreement (ISA) with the JCF. The agreement was renewed and re-signed in March 2016 for a further three years.

Jamaica has been sent the greatest number of information requests of all countries outside the EU and also received the most requests.

ACRO has seen improvements in response times for requests to Jamaica for criminal conviction information since the introduction of the ISA.

In 2015/16, the majority of responses (72 per cent) were received between 31 and 90 working days.

This is compared with 2013/14 when more than half of responses (54 per cent) were received after more than 90 working days.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s there was a trend of Jamaican criminals illegally entering the UK and committed drug and gun related murders, along with other violent crimes. This has significantly lessened in recent years.