In the wake of its NHS IT initiative the Government has now turned
its attention to the criminal justice system, which has struggled
to improve its ageing technology infrastructure. James Rogers looks
at the tough task of updating criminal justice IT
"Still in the dark ages" was how Tony Blair last week described
many of the UK's criminal justice IT systems. He said they were
wholly inadequate, particularly when compared to similar systems in
use in the private sector.
Speaking in London at the international Modernising Criminal
Justice conference, the prime minister said the Government is
planning a significant investment to drag criminal justice IT into
the 21st century.
Blair said, "There will be a major investment in IT right across
the system - in the courts, Crown Prosecution Service and police,"
to enable them to communicate effectively.
But criminal justice professionals have warned that the Government
faces a difficult task, given the lack of interoperability between
the existing systems used in different branches of the criminal
justice network.
Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of the National
Association of Probation Officers (Napo), said, "What they have
been talking about for years is a case management system that links
criminal justice agencies. What has hindered that is the fact that
the [existing IT] systems don't talk to each other and never come
up for renewal on the same date."
Fletcher warned that the Government must be prepared to make some
brave policy decisions if it is to deliver integrated IT across the
whole criminal justice system. "What they will have to do is take
one bold step and say that all agencies will switch to an
integrated system on one date," he said.
However, criminal justice insiders have warned that it could take
as long as a decade to implement an integrated IT system for the
whole justice network, which has suffered a series of embarrassing
IT failures over the past few years.
For example, the new case-management system for probation officers,
Crams, is due to be replaced after complaints from staff and
magistrates courts. They are still waiting for a case-management
application that was supposed to be supplied by a £319m public
finance initiative deal with ICL.
Meanwhile, MPs have criticised the police for holding inaccurate
records on the Police National Computer.
Only last week a damning report from the Audit Commission said that
inadequate IT is contributing to delays and inefficiencies right
across the criminal justice system. Auditors highlighted the lack
of a modern, shared, IT system and pointed to the lack of
interoperability across the seven main criminal justice agencies:
the police; the Probation Service; the Crown Prosecution; criminal
defence; magistrates courts; crown courts; and the Prison
Service.
Blair added to this depressing picture during his speech to
criminal justice professionals from around the world. "Many of our
criminal justice IT systems are still in the dark ages in
comparison to other jurisdictions and leading-edge private sector
organisations," he said.
Precise details of the planned reform of criminal justice IT will
be contained in a white paper that is due to be published shortly.
It is expected to seek to resolve a number of issues, both
technical and cultural.
The problems with the criminal justice system are not just
technological; the Audit Commission report also expressed concern
about the way that IT operates. It found, for example, that even
where integrated IT systems exist, some staff continue to fax
rather than e-mail case papers, suggesting that cultural and skills
barriers to the use of IT still exist.
"These barriers need to be overcome with a comprehensive training
programme that will allow the full potential of IT to be realised,"
the Audit Commission report said.
However, public sector suppliers are adamant that it is possible to
provide the criminal justice network with a 21st century IT system,
and have identified the use of electronic case files as crucial to
this.
James McVicar, account director for home affairs and criminal
justice at IT services specialist Schlumberger Sema, said, "There
is going to be a commitment [to criminal justice IT]. The prime
minister made a big commitment to health, and criminal justice is a
close second."
McVicar acknowledged some of the difficulties involved with the
all-important case files. "It is a challenge to ensure that they
are transferred electronically," he said. "And it is also a
challenge to ensure that the right people access the right parts at
the correct time."
With this in mind, future electronic case file systems will benefit
from technologies such as public key infrastructure and biometrics.
"That will make the audit trail secure and enable the secure flow
of information," said McVicar. He also believes that electronic
case files will improve the overall efficiency of the criminal
justice system, which is currently hindered by its dependence on
paper-based processes.
There are some parallels to be drawn here between the Government's
ambitious plan to overhaul IT in the NHS and its criminal justice
ambitions. For example, electronic patient records, the medical
equivalent of electronic case files, also play a major part in the
health service's future IT strategy.
McVicar, who was formerly SchlumbergerSema's account director for
NHS Scotland, believes the sheer scale of building systems in the
health service, which is one of the world's largest organisations,
puts the Government's plans for criminal justice into perspective.
"Logistically, health is the bigger challenge because there are so
many organisations, with the hundreds of NHS trusts. If you look at
criminal justice, there are, for example, only 43 police
authorities."
If the Government meets its ambitious targets all criminal justice
agencies will be able to exchange all case file information
electronically by 2005. It will, however, have to be careful to
involve users throughout its long-term IT strategy. "They will have
to give themselves a long planning period, ensuring that users are
involved and that there is adequate provision for people with
disabilities," said Fletcher.
McVicar believes the Government will succeed but warned that it
should not lose any time getting to grips with the task. "We have
to start the journey now," he said.