§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department which regional police forces have already obtained, or are planning to instal, computers primarily intended to support (a) command and control systems, (b) criminal information systems, and (c) fully computerised criminal intelligence systems; what is his role in approving the function of the computer in each of these cases; and what independent discretion chief constables have in deciding which of these types of system is required.
§ Mr. MayhewA chief officer of police who wishes to obtain a computer system for any purpose requires the agreement of the police authority to the expenditure involved. My right hon. Friend's specific approval of the functions to be performed by the system is not required, but the Department provides guidance as appropriate, and is involved in research and development work. According to Home Office records, the information requested in the first part of the question is as follows:
(i) "Command and control" systems
Operational: Bedford, Cleveland, Dorset, Merseyside, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Sussex, Warwickshire, West Midlands, West Yorkshire.Planned: Avon and Somerset, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Hertfordshire, Lincolnshire, Northumbria, North Yorkshire, South Wales, South Yorkshire, Wiltshire.(ii) Computerised criminal information systems
Operational: Cheshire, Lincolnshire, South Yorkshire, Sussex, Thames Valley.Planned: Dorset, Durham, Greater Manchester, Humberside, Kent, Merseyside, Northumbria, North Yorkshire, West Mercia, West Midlands.Notes:
(1) There are no regional police forces. The information given relates to police forces in England and Wales outside London.
(2) "Command and control" is an imprecise term. Listed are those forces with computer systems incorporating facilities in incident logging, resource availability, message switching and in some cases a variety of other semi-operational indices. A number of other forces however operate computer-assisted facilities for monitoring resource availability.
(3) A computerised criminal information system is one which hold records hitherto kept on paper relating to crime, criminals and criminal activities. The Home Office does not distinguish between criminal information and criminal intelligence for this purpose.
(4) Those forces listed as having planned systems include both those who have firm plans and those whose plans are at a preliminary stage.