National Criminal Intelligence System
01 January 1991
National Criminal Intelligence System
artdoc April=1992
On 1 April 1992 the National Criminal Intelligence System (NCIS)
will begin operations. It will provide centralised intelligence
on serious crime and criminals to police forces in the UK and
provide the central point for the exchange of intelligence with
other EC police centres. A number of internal reports had
recommended the creation of a national information or
intelligence function for the police - the Baumber report (1975),
the Pearce report (1978) and the Radcliffe report (1986). The
impetus to actually create a national intelligence system came
out of the Trevi Group meeting and the development of the
European police organisation (Europol). In 1989 Mr Dickens,
Executive Co-ordinator of the Regional Crime Squads, was asked
to prepare a report in the light of: `the increasing
sophistication of criminal behaviour and the likelihood that this
would increase further following the relaxation of controls on
movement in 1992'. In July 1990 the Association of Chief Police
Officers approved a working party report.
The creation of NCIS involves the transfer of central units
currently based at London's Metropolitan Police HQ to the NCIS
and the reduction of the nine Regional Crime Squads (RCS) to
five. The Regional Crime Intelligence Offices (part of the RCSs)
will be form a network under the national control of NCIS. The
NCIS will include the following units: National Drugs
Intelligence Unit (NDIU); National Football Intelligence Unit
(NFIU); Interpol (ICPO); Regional Crime Intelligence Offices;
Public Sector Corruption Unit; Product Contamination Index;
Support and co-ordination of undercover police officers; Resident
Informants; Stolen Motor Vehicle Squad; Arts and Antiques Squad;
National Office for the Suppression of Counterfeit Currency
Commercial Fraud Index & Commercial Fraud Squad; National
Paedophile Index; Criminal Intelligence Special Intelligence
Section; and Regional Crime Squad no 9. The Director of NCIS is
Mr A Mullett, former Chief Constable of West Mercia. Two of the
deputy directors are Mr Neil Dickens, executive co-ordinator of
the RCSs and Mr Simon Crawshaw, who is Deputy Director
(Designate) of Intelligence. It will have 450 staff. The number
of Regional Crime Squads (RCSs) will be reduced from 9 to 5 and
the new regional offices of the NCIS will be based in London,
Manchester, Wakefield, Bristol or Cardiff and Birmingham. The
NCIS will appoint field intelligence officers to liaise with the
RCSs and local forces.
Intelligence-gathering
The NCIS will develop the National Intelligence Computer System
(NICS) and it will eventually be linked to every police force
headquarters and every police station in the UK. However, the
NICS will not be operational until 1994. It is thought that the
NICS will be linked to the PNC2 and this is likely as NICS will
replace the crime pattern analysis facility currently offered by
the PNC. Phase two of the system will enable it to send and
receive photographs and fingerprints.
The NCIS will gather together `intelligence' which will be a
combination of fact and suspicions. One of its sources will be
intelligence forwarded by local police forces who will provide
witness statements, interrogation of suspects notes, the results
of surveillance and reports from informants. The NCIS will
itself gather intelligence from liaison officers posted overseas
(there are 30 drugs liaison officers - police and customs
officers - in more than 19 countries); all disclosures made under
the Drug Trafficking Offences, Criminal Justice and Prevention
of Terrorism Act, to investigate them and them pass on the
results to the police or Customs and Excise (including money-
laundering); EC police intelligence agencies; Interpol; the
Schengen Information System; and UK embassies and missions
abroad.
Accountability
The development of the NCIS took place between the Home Off