Technology tracks repeat offenders

Technology is at the heart of government plans to catch, convict and rehabilitate persistent offenders.

Web-based tracking system JTrack will allow police officers and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) staff to keep tabs on repeat offenders' progress through the criminal justice system via the high-security Criminal Justice Extranet (CJX).

Officers arresting a suspect will be able to access details about what charges may be pending in another part of the country.

JTrack is a key element of the Narrowing the Justice Gap (NJG) strategy announced by the Home Office last week as part of the government's manifesto-led reform agenda.

The system will go live in time for the launch of the national NJG programme in April next year.

A single system for both agencies is more efficient, says Jim Barker-McCardle, assistant chief constable of Kent Police, and the Association of Chief Police Officers' representative on the NJG taskforce.

'This is an important tool to support the plans to target persistent offenders.

'It is both a real time case tracking system and, in the longer term, will give us an insight into where we can make improvements to the criminal justice system.

'Once JTrack has been in place for a few years we will be able to produce useful management information reports about the proportion of cases that go wrong, at what stage and so on,' said Barker-McCardle.

Trials are underway in forces in Nottingham and Cheshire and there are plans for a third test site.

The underlying database will be pre-populated with information held by the Police National Computer on the UK's 33,000 repeat offenders. It will be updated monthly from the PNC. Police and CPS staff will input details on the progress of cases as they occur.

PA Consulting developed the system out of a concept originally designed for the government's anti-street crime initiative.