£1.2bn criminal justice IT passes "major milestone"

A "major milestone" has been reached in the government's £1.2bn criminal justice IT project, with the creation of an electronic link that will join up police custody and prosecution case preparation systems.

Warwickshire is the first police force to go live with the interface, which was developed by the Police IT Organisation (PITO) and IT firm Vivista.

The government has spent £69m on custody and case preparation systems to date, with 10 case programmes and four custody programmes in operation at the end of 2003, and10 additional forces set to use the custody programmes by April 2004. A national rollout is due to be completed by April next year.

The new electronic interface will link the two systems, with the aim of cutting red tape and reducing errors by enabling police and prosecution teams to share information and allowing courts to update the Police National Computer.

Warwickshire Chief Constable John Burbeck said in a statement that the project is a "major milestone" in the modernisation of the criminal justice system.

"Once an offender is arrested, the police service provides most of the information required for the prosecution to proceed. We will now be able to ensure that that information is delivered more quickly to our partners, particularly the CPS and the Courts," he said.

Home Office Minister Hazel Blears said the technology will mean officers spend less time at the station filling out forms and more time "patrolling in our communities and tackling crime".