Security concerns rejected as PND officially launched

The Police National Database (PND) was officially launched last week giving officers a powerful new tool to detect and combat crime. It will bring together intelligence on up to 15 million people from 150 separate computer systems, from the 43 police forces across England and Wales.

The database was developed in response to the recommendation which came out of Lord Bichard’s inquiry into the failings of police intelligence that led to the Soham murders in 2002.

However, although the PND is expected to boost the fight against crime, Lord Bichard said that with so much sensitive information available on a single system, a balance between civil liberties and individual privacy must be struck.

He said: “There is not a single piece of new information or intelligence that has been gathered to feed this new system, what this new system is doing is making it easier to access the information the police already have.

“I think it’s also making sure that the data is reliable, accurate and I feel certain that we will end up with fewer people on the system than we do at the moment, because I think we have quite a lot of duplications, entries of people with similar names who turn out to be the same person.

“We need to continue to challenge on this issue of privacy but also in order to protect; we have to give police the tools to counter criminals who are increasingly skillful.”

The National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) rolled out the system which will hold intelligence on individuals in cases including domestic violence, child abuse, criminal intelligence and custody areas.

The information will not be made available to every officer and will be accessible only by 12,000 people working in specialist departments.

However, some concerns were raised around such sensitive information being made available on one central system with calls being made to ensure “rigorous” security processes.

Alex Teh, commercial director at Vigil Software, said: “Creating one database in effect means one point of vulnerability. Recent data breaches in the public sector have only served to highlight the need for rigorous security processes to protect the information that will be held, not only on criminals, but also victims of crime. With one central repository storing highly sensitive data, it will be absolutely imperative to ensure that the most stringent measures are in place, from access authentication to preventative monitoring and encryption to ensure that this is a watertight system.”

Logica, the technology service organisation that helped deliver the database, rejected any security concerns and argued that the PND will be the most secure national police system to date. It added that data held in the database was marked confidential under the Government Marking Scheme, which meant each police force had to ensure that suitable processes were in place for access to take place.

In addition, all public authorities must conform to the PND Code of Connection and provide evidence of local accreditation to the NPIA’s national accreditor. The system will also be heavily audited and monitored to ensure the highest security.

Craig Boundy, chief executive officer for Logica, said: “The PND will become an essential tool that will make a big difference to policing in the UK. Providing all police forces with easy access to key information from right around the country means that their vital role will become a lot easier.”

The NPIA said access to and use of the PND will be strictly controlled and only authorised and appropriately vetted users will be able to access the system via a single digital identity using smartcard technology; role-based access controls ensure that users have access only to information that they need for their particular business role.