RSVGPF launches new electronic records management system

Handwritten statements taken by police will soon become a thing of the past, while sharing crime data with overseas law enforcement agencies has just been made easier.

This with the launch of the Police Records Management Information System (PRMIS) that Commissioner of Police (COP) Colin John says will not only help local police officers but strengthens regional and transnational crime fighting.

“Practical benefits to be derived from a project of this nature is that the police would be able to collect quantitative and qualitative data. This would assist us in effectively and efficiently fighting crime in St Vincent and the Grenadines and the Caribbean,” Commissioner John told persons at the launch of the initiative on November 25 at the Questelles Police Station.

PRMIS allows police officers to electronically enter information into a computer which is connected to a server. This eliminates the use of pen and paper to record information and reduces the time it takes to access data on crime.

PRMIS is part of the Strengthening Evidence Based Decision Making for Citizen Security in the Caribbean (CariSECURE) project.

This project is made possible through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the technical assistance of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Personnel from the Attorney General’s (AG) office, the High Court, the Magistrate’s Court, the Ministry of National Mobilization, the police and other stakeholders, have been trained to use the new system.

The PRMIS is being piloted at the Kingstown, Calliaqua and Questelles police stations and will scale up to national use.

According to a release, PRMIS uses standardized crime and violence data to foster evidence-based policy and programming across nine eastern and southern Caribbean countries, including SVG.

SVG is the seventh country to launch PRMIS.

United States Ambassador to Barbados and the OECS Linda Taglialatela said the United States, through USAID is pleased to support SVG through CariSECURE while working together to achieve an evidence-based response to crime and violence.

She noted that initiatives like these are in keeping with the USA’s commitment and ongoing effort to support security and the rule of law in the Eastern Caribbean.

“Today St Vincent and the Grenadines is making a giant step. With criminals engaging in more sophisticated crime it is imperative that law enforcement officials maximize technology to optimize efficiency.
“Data when transformed into intelligence allows law enforcement and policy makers to better understand the root causes of crime and violence and design responses to bring about greater effectiveness in policing,” Taglialatela said.

She said also that officers now have the ability to generate victim and offender profiling which will assist with a faster police response and effective evidence-based decisions, for example crime mapping.

“The system allows officers to receive crime data within seconds by using a system wide search. Currently this process takes over a week,” Taglialatela stated.

The system will soon be able to link data with the Regional Security System (RSS) in Barbados and as a result help to better counter transnational crime.  

Addressing the launch, Resident Representative UNDP Barbados and the OECS Magdy Martinez-Soliman stated that an effective police force that protects our rights and defends our peace is the only acceptable first response to insecurity and this is possibly one of the most intricate problems a government has to solve so that people enjoy freedom from fear.