CRIS: innocent people on file (1)
01 January 1991
CRIS: innocent people on file
artdoc August=1994
The Metropolitan Police are to finally introduce the computerised
Crime Report Information System (CRIS) 11 years after it was
first proposed. Following years of experimentation with software
and trial runs in local divisions more than 2,000 terminals will
be introduced to London police stations over the next two years
giving it `probably the best designed crime report system in
Europe'. Assistant Commissioner Peter Winship, chairman of the
CRIS Project Board, said they are now investigating a hand held
portable computer which will enable the officer on the street to
download and to enter information on CRIS.
The CRIS system will computerise crime reports which are at
present held on paper. Every crime report completed by police
officers contains the record of a crime, location, description,
victim and witnesses. The crime report is also cross referenced
to the Police National Computer (PNC2) and provides space for
officers to record details of their investigations and
`suspicions'.
It is potentially one of the most intrusive computer systems
used by the police as it will place on permanent record not just
the person(s) arrested but also a complainant, aggrieved person,
witness, and suspect - none of whom would necessarily have been
convicted of the offence. Thus for every reported crime there
will potentially be four or more people other than those arrested
for an offence who will be held on police files.
September will also see the introduction of the national
Phoenix project which will put all criminal records onto the PNC.
The old card index system and microfiche held by the National
Identification Bureau (NIB) will become a thing of the past.
The Job, 10.6.94; Police Review, 24.6.94; Guide to the Met, GLC,
1986; Policing London, no 7, 1983.
Statewatch, Vol 4 no 4, July-August 1994