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Achieving "joined up" justice - QAS for Criminal justice

QAS for Criminal Justice

One of the major challenges within Criminal Justice is in achieving "joined-up" justice. The Ministry of Justice, encompassing Courts, Probation and Prisons (NOMS), are driving forward the creation of a secure network where information is available to all appropriate personnel via joined up casework applications. We are working with organisations within MOJ and Police, to assist with migration, merging and verification of citizen data.

Strategic objectives of UK Police forces

Achieving the strategic objectives outlined by the NPIA and other governing bodies can be assisted by the use of Experian QAS services.

Experian QAS is the NPIA accredited contact data management solution provider for the Police under the NSPIS GIS Enabling agreement with Northgate Information Services. Our solutions are in use across all 52 UK police forces, assisting:

  • data collection
  • verification of name and address information
  • data quality management
  • tracing individuals
  • removing duplicate records

Experian QAS is used by the UK's police forces across a broad spectrum of applications including crime recording, custody handling, case preparation, front desk enquiries and personnel. Experian QAS products can also be used in conjunction with GIS / mapping systems, to identify patterns such as crime hotspots.

Experian QAS solutions are used within Case in Custody, Holmes 2 and Mobile , to name a few. Our products help forces reduce the time taken to bring individuals to justice.

NameTracer Pro

We have extended the NSPIS GIS Enabling agreement framework to provide improved address and nominal searching via our product solution NameTracer Pro.

NameTracer Pro is a desktop, tracing technology tool, used by Police forces to trace people in the UK. Providing access to up to 7 years of edited Historical Electoral Register Data it can be used for:

  • building an address history - tailored and individual searches can be conducted quickly and efficiently
  • on the scene witness and suspect information
  • Neighbour questioning - traces can be specified to certain mile radius searches
  • Locating witness or suspects - false or outdated information can be checked and verified
  • Download our full case study with Surrey Police.

The use of mobile technology within Criminal Justice

Greater use of new technology to cut paper work and free up police time are among the key recommendations made by the chief inspector of constabulary, Sir Ronnie Flanagan, in his Review of Policing report. (Government Computing February 2008)

Experian QAS can now provide officers on the street with access to:

  • Full Electoral Register (rights of access dependant)
  • National Canvass
  • date of birth information
  • Visit the 'Key features' section of our NameTracer Pro product page, to see the kind of information available for use with this technology.

The Management of Police Information (MoPI)

Accurate, relevant and accessible information is crucial for policing.

A statutory code of practice on the Management of Police Information (MoPI), was introduced in 2005 and has been implemented by all police forces in England and Wales.

Experian QAS contributes to achieve the objectives of MoPI, by ensuring that all police operational information is managed in a standardised way.

Consistent national standards across the police service will be further demanded with the delivery of the full MoPI standards in 2010, and with the arrival of the Police National Database.

Experian Link

Police forces and other government agencies are increasingly focused on understanding information collected across multiple touch points.

Experian Link, is a data matching tool for the Public sector, which can assist with the task of recognising and linking multiple records for any one individual.

Using the Gazetteer

Effectively acknowledging and exploiting gazetteer data will allow you to:

  • ensure single view of address and location information
  • make use of a government generated database.
  • Improve the overall quality of the information held.
  • achieve joined up justice with the benefits of shared services
  • reduce operational costs and streamline processes, reducing the time to bring individuals to justice
  • Read about our QAS Gateway offering, to identify how to further unlock the benefits of your gazetteer.

Achieving joined up justice

The public sector is striving to put the citizen first, moving from a process driven system to a people driven one. To achieve this criminal justice and public sector organisations will need to follow the vision of a joined up government and work towards implementing a Tell Us Once strategy.

The Tell Us Once Programme was set up to create processes that are citizen centric, that do not involve repetition and wasted resources.

Accurate data can help organisations with the Tell Us Once strategy.

A joined up service using products from Experian QAS, can help improve services:

  • Face-to-face - Central and local government and criminal justice services can also be bought together within the Shared Services initiative, joining up offices to support local needs
  • Over the phone - supporting the government aim to reduce 'avoidable contact' and the ability to measure this
  • Online - enhancing this increasingly used portal for citizen service

Identity authentication and citizen verification

National police forces need to be able to efficiently and effectively confirm people’s identity.

Authentication solutions from Experian enable real-time electronic authentication of citizen details. They can be used in tandem with biometric technologies such as smart cards, fingerprints and eye, facial and voice recognition identifiers.

Benefits of electronic identification include:

  • financial and operational efficiencies
  • fraud prevention
  • identify verification

For more information on identity verification in the Public Sector specifically:


Resources for the criminal justice sector





Software, data and services from Experian QAS