Thames Valley Police has completed the roll-out of a
firearms registry database and workflow system. The introduction of
the web-based system comes as the Lancashire and Metropolitan
Police Forces are due to start pilot schemes with the national
firearms database, which is to be fully implemented in
2006.
The need for a national firearms register and better access to
firearms records within the forces was highlighted in the Cullen
Report, which followed the Dunblane massacre of 1996.
Since then the project for a national firearms database has
suffered repeated delays. Home Office minister Lord Rooker said
planned pilots of the system were due in May 2002, with full
implementation anticipated in May 2003. Last year the Police IT
Organisation set a launch date of January 2005 but technical
problems delayed it further.
Thames Valley Police' firearms licensing department is using a
wireless web-based system from content management supplier Open
Text. The Livelink ECM-based system allows officers equipped with
laptops to conduct field work, background checks, firearm ownership
transfers and other activities to gain knowledge about a person or
firearm throughout the certification process.
Firearms officers use Livelink ECM to scan, store and manage
documents relating to all aspects of firearm ownership. The force's
previous system was paper-based and it was running out of space for
its 35,000 documents.
Each record can contain information generated over 15 or more
years for each certificate holder.
Chris Sambrook, Thames Valley Police firearms manager, said,
"Both live and inactive files can now be retrieved in a matter of
minutes and be made available to anyone, with the right level of
permission, at any time in the approval process."
Sambrook said the system would need additional work on data
formatting before it could be connected to the national system.