NCJ Number
108806
Journal
Policing Volume: 3 Issue: 4 Dated: (Winter 1987) Pages: 287-301
Date Published
1987
Length
15 pages
Annotation
The current National Police Computer (NPC) system used by English police has been in operation for over 15 years and provides several capabilities.
Abstract
These include files for stolen/suspect vehicles, vehicle owner, fingerprints, criminal names, wanted and missing persons, disqualified drivers, crime pattern analysis, major investigation support, convictions, vehicle descriptive search, broadcast, and cross-reference. While the NPC has generally high standards of performance, its processors and other hardware are now obsolete and advances in software have provided such valuable options as data-base management systems, transaction processing monitors, data dictionaries, screen painting tools, and fourth-generation programming languages. Given this, in conjunction with increasing NPC workloads, a new NPC system is needed. The planning implementation strategy for this new system is an incremental approach allowing separate but parallel development of hardware and software regeneration, with priority given to system flexibility and expandability. Possible options for the new system include computerized criminal records and a witness album, photographic retrieval, face generation, photograph matching, and computerized fingerprint recognition.