The Police National Computer (PNC) is a computer

Computer

A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...

 system used extensively by law enforcement organisations across the United Kingdom

Policing in the United Kingdom

Law enforcement in the United Kingdom is organised separately in each of the legal systems of the United Kingdom: England & Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland ....

. It went live in 1974 and now consists of several databases available 24 hours a day, giving access to information of national and local significance.

From October 2009, the National Policing Improvement Agency

National Policing Improvement Agency

The United Kingdom's National Policing Improvement Agency is a non-departmental public body established to support police by providing expertise in such areas as information technology, information sharing, and recruitment.-Background:...

 (NPIA) state that there are over 9.2 million nominal (personal) records, 52 million driver records, 55 million vehicle records and that 185 million transactions were made in the twelve months previous. . Since 1 April 2007, it has been maintained by the NPIA which was inherited the activities of the now disbanded Police Information Technology Organisation

Police Information Technology Organisation

-History:The UK government Police National Computer project was evolved in the early 1970s, and was launched in 1974 with Stolen Vehicles as its initial database....

 (PITO). Prior to the establishment of PITO, the PNC was managed directly by the Home Office

Home Office

The Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...

.

The PNC was started in 1974 with Stolen Vehicles as its initial database. Since then, additional applications have been implemented almost every year. The range of facilities, level of detail and potential value of information stored on the PNC has improved significantly. This has led to the PNC being more of an investigative tool rather than its original purpose of a record keeping one.

Configuration

The PNC is based on a Fujitsu Siemens

Fujitsu Siemens Computers

Fujitsu Siemens Computers B.V. was a Japanese and German IT vendor. The company was founded in 1999 as a 50/50 joint venture between Fujitsu Limited of Japan and Siemens AG of Germany...

 S-190 mainframe running the BS2000

BS2000

BS2000 is a mainframe computer operating system developed by Fujitsu Technology Solutions.Unlike other mainframe systems, BS2000/OSD provides exactly the same user and programming interface in all operating modes and regardless of whether it is running natively or as a guest system in a virtual...

 operating system with recent PNC applications held on UNIX

Unix

Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...

 servers. There are around 26,000 directly connected terminals and 25,000 terminals which are connected via local police force computer systems. The mainframe is connected to the end user by a multitude of ways, for high volume users (i.e. other police forces) via secure IP network, for low volume users a secure dial-up link provided by Cable & Wireless

Cable & Wireless

Cable & Wireless Worldwide PLC is a global telecommunications company headquartered in Bracknell, United Kingdom. Cable & Wireless specialises in providing communication networks and services to large corporates, governments, carrier customers and resellers...

. Another connection method is via an X.25

X.25

X.25 is an ITU-T standard protocol suite for packet switched wide area network communication. An X.25 WAN consists of packet-switching exchange nodes as the networking hardware, and leased lines, Plain old telephone service connections or ISDN connections as physical links...

 packet-switched network, this method is being phased out. Databases for vehicles and driver licences are copied from the DVLA databases in the early morning (there is no service loss when an update is in progress). The mainframe server is located at the Hendon

Hendon

Hendon is a London suburb situated northwest of Charing Cross.-History:Hendon was historically a civil parish in the county of Middlesex. The manor is described in Domesday , but the name, 'Hendun' meaning 'at the highest hill', is earlier...

 Data Centre with back-up servers located around the UK.

In 2005 the only back-up server was located next to Hertfordshire Oil Storage Terminal

Hertfordshire Oil Storage Terminal

Hertfordshire Oil Storage Terminal is operated by Hertfordshire Oil Storage Ltd and commonly known as the Buncefield oil depot. It is an oil depot located on the edge of Hemel Hempstead to the north of London in the United Kingdom...

, Buncefield which was the scene of a major civil emergency when it burned to the ground in December 2005. According to the Home Office the location had been assessed as low-risk notwithstanding that the site was 100 yards (91.4 m) from a disaster hazard and the site and its surrounding were burned to the ground.

Users

Requests for access to PNC are decided upon by the PNC Information Access Panel (PIAP). The members of the panel are the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), the Association of Police Authorities, the Home Office, and the NPIA.

Organisations with full access:

• All territorial police force
  Territorial police force
  The phrase Territorial Police Force varies in precise meaning according to the country to which it is related, generally distinguishing a force whose area of responsibility is defined by sub-national boundaries from others which deal with the entire country or a restricted range of...
  
  s of Great Britain
• Police Service of Northern Ireland
  Police Service of Northern Ireland
  The Police Service of Northern Ireland is the police force that serves Northern Ireland. It is the successor to the Royal Ulster Constabulary which, in turn, was the successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary in Northern Ireland....
  
   (PSNI)
• British Transport Police
  British Transport Police
  The British Transport Police is a special police force that polices those railways and light-rail systems in Great Britain for which it has entered into an agreement to provide such services...
  
   (BTP)
• Civil Nuclear Constabulary
  Civil Nuclear Constabulary
  The Civil Nuclear Constabulary is a special police force responsible for providing law enforcement and security at civil nuclear installations, and for nuclear materials in transit, throughout the United Kingdom....
  
  
• Isle of Man Constabulary
  Isle of Man Constabulary
  The Isle of Man Constabulary is the organisation responsible for policing the Isle of Man, an island of 80,000 inhabitants situated equidistant from Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England.-Structures and Deployment:...
  
  
• States of Jersey Police
  States of Jersey Police
  The States of Jersey Police is the professional police service of Jersey. It was established in its current form by the Police Force Law, 1974 and consists of around 240 officers....
  
  
• States of Guernsey Police Service
  States of Guernsey Police Service
  The States of Guernsey Police Service is the local police force for the Crown dependency of Guernsey. In addition to providing police for the island of Guernsey itself, the Guernsey Police also provides detachments for the islands of Alderney, Herm and Sark...
  
  
• National Identification Service
  National Identification Service
  The National Identification Service is a department of the London Metropolitan Police which provides a range of support services on behalf of the Metropolitan Police and other police forces.All SO4's services are connected with criminal records and include a remit to act as the National...
  
   (NIS)
• Serious Organised Crime Agency
  Serious Organised Crime Agency
  The Serious Organised Crime Agency is a non-departmental public body of the Government of the United Kingdom under Home Office sponsorship...
  
   (SOCA)
• Ministry of Defence Police
  Ministry of Defence Police
  The Ministry of Defence Police is a civilian police force which is part of the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence. The force is part of the larger government agency, the Ministry of Defence Police and Guarding Agency , together with the Ministry of Defence Guard Service...
  
   (MDP)
• HM Revenue & Customs
• The Security Service (MI5
  MI5
  The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
  
  )
• Secret Intelligence Service
  Secret Intelligence Service
  The Secret Intelligence Service is responsible for supplying the British Government with foreign intelligence. Alongside the internal Security Service , the Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence Intelligence , it operates under the formal direction of the Joint Intelligence...
  
   (MI6)
• Government Communications Headquarters
  Government Communications Headquarters
  The Government Communications Headquarters is a British intelligence agency responsible for providing signals intelligence and information assurance to the UK government and armed forces...
  
  
• Defence Intelligence Staff
  Defence Intelligence Staff
  Defence Intelligence is a key member of the United Kingdom Intelligence Community but differs from the agencies in that it is not a stand-alone organisation but is a constituent part of the Ministry of Defence . The organisation employs a mixture of civilian and military staff and is funded...
  
  
• Department for Work and Pensions
  Department for Work and Pensions
  The Department for Work and Pensions is the largest government department in the United Kingdom, created on June 8, 2001 from the merger of the employment part of the Department for Education and Employment and the Department of Social Security and headed by the Secretary of State for Work and...
  
  
• Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency
• Association of Chief Police Officers
  Association of Chief Police Officers
  The Association of Chief Police Officers , established in 1948, is a private limited company that leads the development of policing practice in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.ACPO provides a forum for chief police officers to share ideas and coordinates the strategic...
  
   (ACPO)

Other organisations have restricted access. They include HM Court Service, Probation Service, the Criminal Records Bureau

Criminal Records Bureau

The Criminal Records Bureau , is an Executive Agency of the Home Office, which provides wider access to criminal record information through its Disclosure service for England and Wales...

, Royal Military Police

Royal Military Police

The Royal Military Police is the corps of the British Army responsible for the policing of service personnel, and for providing a military police presence both in the UK, and whilst service personnel are deployed overseas on operations and exercises.Members of the RMP are generally known as...

 (Names file only), Royal Air Force Police

Royal Air Force Police

The Royal Air Force Police is the Service Police branch of the Royal Air Force. It was formed on 1 April 1918, when the RAF was formed by the merger of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service . It is responsible for the policing of all service personnel much like there RN or Army...

 (Names file only), Royal Navy Police (Names file only) & Royal Marines Police

Royal Marines Police

The Royal Marines Police is the military police of the British Royal Marines.The RM Police is responsible for providing garrison policing services; law enforcement and crime prevention as well as general security advice to the command, and includes a Special Investigation Branch section for the...

 (Names file only).

PIAP has defined the following organisations as non-police and has agreed that authorised users within these organisations can have Names file only access commensurate with their previously stated and agreed business needs.

Non-police organisations with access to PNC:

• Access Northern Ireland
• Charity Commission for England and Wales
• Criminal Cases Review Commission
  Criminal Cases Review Commission
  The Criminal Cases Review Commission is an non-departmental public body set up following the Royal Commission on Criminal Justice itself a continuation of the May Inquiry. It aims to investigate possible miscarriages of justice in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
  
  
• Criminal Records Bureau
  Criminal Records Bureau
  The Criminal Records Bureau , is an Executive Agency of the Home Office, which provides wider access to criminal record information through its Disclosure service for England and Wales...
  
  
• Defence Vetting Agency
  Defence Vetting Agency
  The Defence Vetting Agency is an executive agency of the United Kingdom government responsible for vetting employees of the British Armed Forces, Ministry of Defence civil servants, defence contractors, and certain other government departments and organisations who work on contracts with certain...
  
  
• Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
  Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
  The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform was a United Kingdom government department. The department was created on 28 June 2007 on the disbanding of the Department of Trade and Industry , and was itself disbanded on 6 June 2009 on the creation of the Department for Business,...
  
  
• Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
  Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
  The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is the government department responsible for environmental protection, food production and standards, agriculture, fisheries and rural communities in the United Kingdom...
  
  
• Department for Transport
  Department for Transport
  In the United Kingdom, the Department for Transport is the government department responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland which are not devolved...
  
  
• Department for Work and Pensions
  Department for Work and Pensions
  The Department for Work and Pensions is the largest government department in the United Kingdom, created on June 8, 2001 from the merger of the employment part of the Department for Education and Employment and the Department of Social Security and headed by the Secretary of State for Work and...
  
  
• Disclosure Scotland
  Disclosure Scotland
  Disclosure Scotland is an executive agency of the Scottish Government, providing a service aimed to enhance public safety. The agency supplies prospective employers and voluntary sector organisations with any criminal record information on applicants for posts....
  
  
• Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency
  Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency
  The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency is the organisation of the UK Government responsible for maintaining a database of drivers and a database of vehicles in Great Britain; its counterpart in Northern Ireland is the Driver & Vehicle Agency...
  
  
• Environment Agency
  Environment Agency
  The Environment Agency is a British non-departmental public body of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and an Assembly Government Sponsored Body of the Welsh Assembly Government that serves England and Wales.-Purpose:...
  
  
• Financial Services Authority
  Financial Services Authority
  The Financial Services Authority is a quasi-judicial body responsible for the regulation of the financial services industry in the United Kingdom. Its board is appointed by the Treasury and the organisation is structured as a company limited by guarantee and owned by the UK government. Its main...
  
  
• Foreign and Commonwealth Office
  Foreign and Commonwealth Office
  The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office or the FCO is a British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom overseas, created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.The head of the FCO is the...
  
  
• Gangmasters Licensing Authority
  Gangmasters Licensing Authority
  The Gangmasters Licensing Authority is an agency in the United Kingdom regulating the supply of workers to the agricultural, horticultural and shellfish industries...
  
  
• G4S
• Health and Safety Executive
  Health and Safety Executive
  The Health and Safety Executive is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom. It is the body responsible for the encouragement, regulation and enforcement of workplace health, safety and welfare, and for research into occupational risks in England and Wales and Scotland...
  
  
• Highways Agency
  Highways Agency
  The Highways Agency is an executive agency, part of the Department for Transport in England. It has responsibility for managing the core road network in England...
  
  
• Her Majesty's Prison Service
  Her Majesty's Prison Service
  Her Majesty's Prison Service is a part of the National Offender Management Service of the Government of the United Kingdom tasked with managing most of the prisons within England and Wales...
  
  
• Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs
  Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs
  Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs is a non-ministerial department of the UK Government responsible for the collection of taxes and the payment of some forms of state support....
  
  
• Home Office
  Home Office
  The Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...
  
  
• Independent Police Complaints Commission
  Independent Police Complaints Commission
  The Independent Police Complaints Commission is a non-departmental public body in England and Wales responsible for overseeing the system for handling complaints made against police forces in England and Wales.-Role:...
  
  
• States of Jersey Customs and Immigration Service
• Mersey Tunnels Police
  Mersey Tunnels Police
  The Mersey Tunnels Police is a small, non-Home Office police force which polices the Mersey Tunnels in Merseyside, England on behalf of the Merseyside Passenger Transport Authority.-Role and powers:...
  
  
• Ministry of Justice
• National Air Traffic Service
• National Health Service
  National Health Service
  The National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...
  
  
• Office for Civil Nuclear Security
• Office of Fair Trading
  Office of Fair Trading
  The Office of Fair Trading is a not-for-profit and non-ministerial government department of the United Kingdom, established by the Fair Trading Act 1973, which enforces both consumer protection and competition law, acting as the UK's economic regulator...
  
  
• Royal Mail
  Royal Mail
  Royal Mail is the government-owned postal service in the United Kingdom. Royal Mail Holdings plc owns Royal Mail Group Limited, which in turn operates the brands Royal Mail and Parcelforce Worldwide...
  
  
• United Kingdom Border Agency
• Vehicle and Operator Services Agency
  Vehicle and Operator Services Agency
  Vehicle and Operator Services Agency is a non-departmental public body granted Trading Fund status in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Transport of the United Kingdom Government.-History:...
  
  

Databases

PNC contains several separate databases; these include:

• Names File - This contains a large amount of information about people who have been convicted, cautioned or recently arrest
  Arrest
  An arrest is the act of depriving a person of his or her liberty usually in relation to the purported investigation and prevention of crime and presenting into the criminal justice system or harm to oneself or others...
  
  ed (referred to as 'nominals' on the PNC). This includes links to fingerprint
  Fingerprint
  A fingerprint in its narrow sense is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. In a wider use of the term, fingerprints are the traces of an impression from the friction ridges of any part of a human hand. A print from the foot can also leave an impression of friction ridges...
  
  s and DNA
  DNA
  Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
  
   (the PNC is a text only computer so no graphical information is stored, photos that are taken whilst in custody have information relating to their location so enquiries can be made to obtain a copy of them). Nominals can be placed on the PNC as 'Wanted/Missing' if they are sought in connection with a crime, on warrant
  Warrant (law)
  Most often, the term warrant refers to a specific type of authorization; a writ issued by a competent officer, usually a judge or magistrate, which permits an otherwise illegal act that would violate individual rights and affords the person executing the writ protection from damages if the act is...
  
   and failed to appear at court, AWOL from military service or reported missing. All recent previous arrests and convictions will appear on PNC as well as any impending offences - full disposal history is also included which will show the sentence handed-down for each offence. Numerous other items of information are also stored including all previous addresses, co-defendants, local intelligence, marks/scars and descriptions.

• Vehicle File - Provides details on the registered keeper of a motor vehicle, as well as storing other information from the DVLA as to the vehicle's status (Tax Expired, V23 Submitted, Stolen, Chassis Number, Engine Number etc.). Certain reports can be added by the police which relate to the vehicle or occupant status, examples include if the occupants are believed to be involved in crime or are missing, if the vehicle is stolen, if the vehicle is believed to be cloned etc. The vehicle record system is currently linked to the Motor Insurance Database (maintained by the Motor Insurers Bureau
  Motor Insurers Bureau
  The Motor Insurers' Bureau was founded in the UK in 1946 as a private company limited by guarantee and is the mechanism in the UK through which compensation is found for claims against uninsured drivers, and hit and run incidents...
  
  ) which can confirm if an insurance policy is on the vehicle and the details of such policy such as named drivers, policy dates, policy number and insurance company. The Vehicle Operator Services Agency (VOSA) have computerised the MOT
  MOT (test)
  The Ministry of Transport test is an annual test of automobile safety, roadworthiness aspects and exhaust emissions required for most vehicles over three years old used on public roads in the United Kingdom....
  
  , as a result a link has been created to the PNC which shows the expiration date of the MOT tests for vehicles. The vehicle file actually contains two separate databases (that show on a single screen so no visual difference) one of which is the updated and controlled by the DVLA and the second part is the responsibility of the police (this includes vehicle reports, the DVLA do not have access to this information).

• Property File - Certain types of stolen and found property can be placed onto the PNC system, these are; Trailers, Plant, Engines, Animals, Marine and Firearms.

• Drivers File - This recently added database contains information on 48 million people who either hold a driving licence or are disqualified from holding one. The record will contain information relating to test passes, endorsements and the licence entitlements. This database is the responsibility of the DVLA and is updated every morning.

PNC operators undergo initial training to operate the system which usually consists of a five day course to view data and conduct simple queries, further courses are available to expand the users access level to update and conduct more in-depth queries. Penalties for misuse of the PNC and unlawful access of data are severe, it will likely lead to dismissal and sometimes a court appearance for breaching the Data Protection Act 1998.

A number of criminal justice partners are linked to the PNC, giving them access to the information held on the computer. About 5,000 checks are made each week through the ‘Jurors’ link, which allows crown courts to check whether a proposed juror has a criminal record. Previously, the Courts Service struggled to meet its target of randomly checking 20 per cent of potential jury members.

With the growth of trans-national criminality, the PNC is to be linked to the Schengen Information System

Schengen Information System

The Schengen Information System , is a governmental database used by European countries to maintain and distribute information on individuals and pieces of property of interest. The intended uses of this system are for national security, border control and law enforcement purposes...

 (SIS) which shares certain information Europe-wide.

The Police National Computer is one of the main sources of information accessed when a Criminal Records Bureau

Criminal Records Bureau

The Criminal Records Bureau , is an Executive Agency of the Home Office, which provides wider access to criminal record information through its Disclosure service for England and Wales...

 check is made. The Police National Computer holds indefinite records of a person's conviction and cautions which will be revealed in a Criminal Records Bureau

Criminal Records Bureau

The Criminal Records Bureau , is an Executive Agency of the Home Office, which provides wider access to criminal record information through its Disclosure service for England and Wales...

 check. While of use in informing prospective employers as to the suitability of an applicant for a particular job, the information disclosed can show information which the applicant may think is of no relevance such as a juvenile conviction for shoplifting where the applicant is now a thirty-year-old individual and applying for a job in a bank. Concerns have been expressed that the indefinite retention of old convictions and cautions is unwarranted.

Future

The IMPACT programme is currently underway within the NPIA to develop a replacement system, the Police National Database (PND). IMPACT has so far delivered a complementary service to the PNC, called the IMPACT Nominal Index (INI

INI

INI can be an acronym or a word that may mean:Computing* INI file, a configuration file for computer applications* Impact Nominal Index, a computer system to track and trace individuals during criminal investigationsOrganizations...

), which is seen as a step on the road to the PND. This was then replaced on 7 May 2010 by the police national database (source)

See also

• United Kingdom National DNA Database
• National Ballistics Intelligence Service
  National Ballistics Intelligence Service
  The National Ballistics Intelligence Service, or NABIS, is the U.K.'s intelligence service dedicated to managing and providing detailed information regarding firearm-related criminality. The service aims to use its database to store ballistics information about police cases involving firearms, and...
  
  
• Aerial roof markings
  Aerial roof markings
  Aerial roof markings are symbols, letters or numbers on the roof of emergency vehicles, such as police cars, fire engines and ambulances to enable aircraft to identify them. These markings can be used to identify a specific vehicle, vehicle type or agency...
  
  

External links

• National Policing Improvement Agency
• Civica Web PNC Information - includes example screens (PDF File)
• NDI Technologies - Over 85% of UK Law Enforcement Agencies connect to PNC with NDI