§ Bob RussellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police forces have introduced electronic finger printing scanning; what proposals he has to encourage other forces to do so; and if he will make a statement. [99642]
§ Mr. DenhamThere are currently 175 electronic fingerprint scanning units (known as Livescan) deployed across 27 police forces in England and Wales.
The Police Information Technology Organisation has established the central capability to handle Livescan data (known as NAFIS—the National Automated Fingerprint Identification Service), and set up the Framework Agreement under which forces contract for the Livescan service. However, the decision to use Livescan is an operational matter for each police force, based on its own business case.
Due to economies of scale, the business cases for the deployment of Livescan are generally stronger in larger forces, such as the Metropolitan Police, which has 53 units.
The use by the police of Livescan and NAFIS will also be included in an analysis of forensic performance by police forces to be undertaken by the Police Standards Unit in the Home Office.