A searchable national palm print database for police should be up and running by the middle of next year, says the Police IT Organisation (Pito).

The plan forms part of a £122m deal to upgrade the current National Automated Fingerprint Identification System (Nafis) signed by the Pito and supplier Northrop Grumman in December.

The contract covers the creation of a platform for identification - called Ident1 - that will build on the existing Nafis capability.

Using Nafis, police officers can search a national database of fingerprints covering England and Wales. Ident1 will extend this capacity to include Scotland, and will develop additional services such as the palm print database and a national repository of arrestee photographs.

The main aims of the programme are to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of police officers using the Ident1 system, says Pito director of identification Fred Preston.

'People are getting more mobile so it is important that we enable the business to be done wherever it needs to be done,' he said.

A major element of the fingerprint programme will be allowing fingerprint or palm marks to be searched against the database at the scene of the crime, rather than having to take it back to base, says Preston.

'It will not be instantly available, and not everyone will do it that way, but if need be we can take the mark at the crime scene and then transmit it into the Ident1 system.

'It will mean we can search a lot quicker and identify the perpetrator a lot more quickly,' said Preston.

Ident1 will take over from Nafis in April 2005. The plan is for the national database of mug shots to be in place by 2006, but that is dependent on funding.