Police National Computer

The technology being used by the Police covers the whole spectrum of computers and state of the art electronics, One of the best examples of police use of technology is the Police National Computer system which serves all UK Police Forces with fast up to date information on criminals and vehicles.

The Police National Computer holds several million records at the PNC Centre located at Hendon in North London, through a police national network police forces have complete access to PNC 24 hours a day all the year around.

The PNC or Police National Computer was first established in 1974 and since then has undergone considerable investment in both expansion of the databases within the system and processing power and ability.

PNC service currently handles in excess of 200,000 update and enquiry business transactions per day (equating to over a million message pairs) from UK police forces, with a response rate of just 0.3 seconds.

The type of information available to Police Forces accessing the PNC includes;

The ability to check vehicle registrations against National Records held on PNC and DVLC in real time for suspect vehicles (used in crime or by criminals) and for details of stolen or lost vehicles. The system also allows officers to have up to date details from DVLC computer records as to the keeper of vehicles and vehicle identity details. such as make, model, colour, engine size and if the vehicle is stolen and who it is currently registered to.

The PNC also provides information on persons known to the system, these persons are usually offenders / criminals or those awaiting prosecution before the Courts, below is a brief summary of the type of information held on PNC regarding persons;

PNC Identification Number (unique to the person) sometimes called criminal record office number, convicted persons.

Names application of the Police National Computer (PNC)

• Wanted/Missing
  This covers persons wanted by police forces throughout the UK, including persons wanted on warrant or for other reasons such as:

• missing/found
• absconders
• deserters from the armed forces
• deportees
• subject to exclusion orders
• criminals wanted by other forces who have been apprehended
• Missing Persons, (People who are missing and considered vulnerable).

• Disqualified Drivers Database, (Details of those disqualified from driving by the courts).
• Summary of convictions and cautions; (Previous conviction historical data).
• List of convictions including dates, sentences, the sentencing court and whether the offence was committed on bail.
• List of cautions including dates and the police force concerned;
• Remand/bail details, including whether police or court bail was granted, when, and under what conditions;
• Details of the last period in custody;
• Impending prosecutions/prosecuting agency and bail status:
• Warning Signals concerning individuals such as for example known to be violent or use drugs.
• Criminal Names and alias used

PNC National Broadcast facility

Stolen Property search index

• Property
  The Property Application holds information on stolen or found property which fall into the following categories:
  • plant normally found on construction sites, such as compressors and cement mixers
  • vehicle engines
  • trailers, including caravans and motorcycle side-cars
  • animals of high value such as racehorses
  • firearms, including imitations
  • marine craft and items such as jet skis
• Transaction Log Search facility allows supervisors to search PNC Logs for access made any where across the country.
• VODS Vehicle online descriptive search facilityallows police forces to search for vehicles using various details such as postcodes and colours, type of vehicle and so on.
• Vehicle excise duty out, highlights any vehicle on PNC - DVLC without valid road fund licence. part of the PNC Vehicle check facility mentioned below
• Vehicle check facility for lost - stolen vehicles and to add information reports concerning vehicles such as used in crime.