Scottish forces join UK database to help protect children and vulnerable people

Police chiefs in Scotland have taken the first step to join a UK-wide information sharing system aimed at protecting the country`s most vulnerable people.

Lothian and Borders Police is the first of eight Scottish police forces to introduce the IMPACT Nominal Index (INI), on behalf of ACPOS, as part of a continuous effort by Scottish Police Forces to improve national capability in protecting the public through sharing information and intelligence.

All Scottish forces are due to be signed up before the end of 2006.

Deputy Chief Constable Tom Halpin, lead officer for Child Protection for the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS), has led the team implementing the recommendations arising out of the Bichard Inquiry into the murders of Soham schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

He said: “This is a major step forward and demonstrates the commitment of the police service throughout the United Kingdom to work together to protect the public, reduce crime and bring offenders to justice.”

Since it went live in December 2005, the INI in England and Wales and has proved invaluable, providing police forces with a number of new leads in on-going investigations.

The INI system allows officers to establish, in seconds, whether any police force and other law enforcement agency, anywhere else in England and Wales holds relevant information on someone they are investigating. Previously, this information would not have been visible outside the force holding the record.

DCC Halpin continued: “Sharing information and intelligence across police force boundaries is key to effective policing at local and national level. The Scottish Intelligence Database (SID) delivered an information sharing capability across Scotland in 2004. This new development delivers a significant level of improvement in information sharing both for the forces in England and Wales and for the Scottish forces.

“Criminals need to know that the police service will continue to work to refine a national information sharing capability that will reduce the opportunity for criminals to escape detection by crossing force boundaries.

“We have seen the effectiveness of SID in contributing to the reduction in crime and increases in crime detection and this new tool will make a major contribution to protecting children and vulnerable adults as we move forward.”