The Police National Computer (PNC) is a computer system used extensively by law enforcement organisations across the United Kingdom. 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 (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 (PITO). Prior to the establishment of PITO, the PNC was managed directly by the Home Office.
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.
Read more about Police National Computer: Configuration, Users, Databases, Future
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