Police National Computer hits ten million requests per month
A new monthly record has been set by the Police National Computer (PNC), with 10,870,276 requests made during January an increase of 27 per cent.
A new monthly record has been set by the Police National Computer (PNC), with 10,870,276 requests made during January an increase of 27 per cent.
A new daily record was also set at 444,515 hits on Wednesday, January 18.
Danny McGannan, PNC Customer Support Manager at PITO, said: The continual month on month increase in transactions can be partially attributed to the recent phenomenon of the PNC being linked to remote systems from which PNC transactions are generated. This includes NSPIS Case Preparation & Custody, ViSOR, ANPR, Crimelink and Airwave.
In the long term Airwave has the capability of allowing radio-carrying officers to perform PNC transactions directly from their hand-held or mobile device, which will mean a further surge in PNC usage will be forthcoming.
PNC functionality itself improves year on year, which also leads to greater usage of the system. For example, the Driving Licence enquiry was introduced in March 2002 to provide an online check instead of a postal or phone request to DVLA. It was used over 500,000 times in its first 12 months, and in the last 12 months has been used over 2.5 million times.
Launched in 1974, PNC holds extensive records that cover property, vehicles and criminals, and is accessed by more than 30,000 terminals across the UK. Since its introduction the system has developed to keep pace with technology, and what was once simply a source of information has become an online investigative tool.
