It appears that many Chief Constables are oblivious to their force's performance against
HMIC PNC based recommendations until they are inspected, yet most of these recommendations are easy to implement and
are the foundation on which sustainable PNC performance will be  based.

 Experience suggests that many Chief Constables currently consider force PNC performance only on
the timeliness issues published by PITO and ignore the qualitative ACPO PNC Compliance Strategy performance indicators.
That is a mistake when HMIC Inspections  focus in on these performance indicators and many forces will be found wanting!

Chief Constables do not need to wait for this to happen, they can review their forces before  
HMIC arrives and quickly start to make progress.  Once identified, problems can be quickly addressed.
Remedies are usually a case of changing the way things are done rather than finding more cash.  
But first the problems and the remedies have to be identified, and that is where I can help.

For a modest fee I will undertake a PNC Review for Chief Constables.

My review will comprise of structured interviews based on the HMIC Inspection Protocols and I will prepare a report
benchmarking the force against the 21 standards contained in the statutory PNC Code of Practice.
My final report will also contain my recommendations for improvement.

I will also prepare a draft strategic PNC Action Plan based on my findings.

The review will take seven working days, including preparation, force visit and report preparation.
However, because of ongoing workload the completion timescale is currently four working weeks
from commencement of review to completion of my report.   

On appointment by a force I will need to see all previous PNC Steering Group Minutes, the current
strategic PNC Action Plan and to liaise with the PNC Manager.  

During the three weeks following appointment I will want to research the current situation and meet with the people
who have a key role to play in ensuring that the Force can improve on its performance re PNC.  
The fourth week will be for completion of the report.

The key people to be interviewed are the following:

 1.       ACPO Chair of PNC Steering group

2.       Chief Superintendent  responsible for PNC

3.       Superintendent Force Intelligence Bureau

4.       Divisional Commander – Operational Division

6.       PNC Bureau Manager

7.       Information Security Manager

8.       Data Protection Officer

9.       Head of Training

10.   Head of Marketing

11.   Head of the Criminal Justice Unit

12.   PNC Results Manager

13.   IT Department 

Whilst I have a structured approach to the meetings, and will need at least an hour for each meeting,
I am flexible as to times and the order in which I see them.

At some stage during these three weeks I will want to meet with a focus group of practitioners but I am flexible as to the make up of the group – if forces think I have missed someone out, or added someone who is not involved in PNC, they can amend as they see fit .

However, I would expect that the following would be included in the focus group:

PNC operator, Criminal Justice Unit supervisor and inputter, Communications Room Staff,
Operational Officers including a CID officer, a tutor constable, a training officer and a probationer constable

My report will provide a ‘snapshot’ of how a Constabulary is currently managing the use of
the Police National Computer and how it measures up to the Statutory PNC Code of Practice.  
The report will contain recommendations for improvement,
and allow the Force to make decisions based on an independent assessment.