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| Backgrounder(s) & FactSheet(s): | Backgrounder |
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| Backgrounder(s) & FactSheet(s): | Backgrounder |
KELOWNA – B.C. has achieved a North American milestone in police intelligence-gathering and information-sharing, linking its 13 independent policing agencies and 110 RCMP detachments through one system that helps them solve complex cases more quickly, Solicitor General John van Dongen announced today.
“PRIME-BC furthers intelligence-led, evidence-based policing – and with the system now live in Kelowna, provincewide implementation is complete,” said van Dongen. “This first-in-Canada achievement means all our RCMP and independent police officers can share up-to-the-minute information in real time, advancing investigations and concluding cases more quickly.”
The Police Records Information Management Environment (PRIME-BC) is an online data-sharing system that allows instant access and updating. Officers in the field can enter data about suspects, missing persons and stolen property, making the information available immediately to other officers. The $40-million system has contributed to rapid arrests of suspects wanted on charges ranging from theft to criminal negligence causing death, with successful searches based on as little information as a nickname or the description of a suspect’s tattoo.
“PRIME-BC enables police to work with real-time information at a provincial level,” said Saanich Police Deputy Chief Constable Mike Chadwick, president of the British Columbia Association of Chiefs of Police. “Two of our primary goals in policing are the safety of all British Columbians and of the communities in which they live. The development of PRIME-BC created a virtual data retrieval system that helps us achieve this goal. It has reduced or eliminated information silos and, today, it enhances leveraging of our considerable integration efforts.”
“In the past, officers had to contact a neighbouring police agency to gain access to information about a potential suspect in a paper file,” said Assistant Commissioner Al Macintyre, RCMP Officer in Charge of Criminal Operations in B.C. “With PRIME-BC, information is now at officers’ fingertips and all the data within a file is available in real time to everyone on the system. The more information police officers have before arriving at crime scenes, vehicle stops or physically confronting individuals, the better it is for their own safety, and the safety of the public as well.”
PRIME-BC began operating on a pilot basis in Vancouver, Port Moody and Richmond in 2001. In February 2003, the Province committed to connect every B.C. police department and RCMP detachment with PRIME-BC. In December 2003, Victoria became the first police department to receive the online police records management system following this commitment. Since then, other departments and detachments have gained access as the necessary communications infrastructure has spread to smaller and more remote communities.
In addition to RCMP and municipal forces, PRIME-BC will continue to be of particular value to the province’s growing number of integrated police teams and joint-forces operations, such as the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team and the Integrated Gang Task Force. B.C. has the most extensive police integration in Canada, per capita, with over 600 provincial and municipal officers and support staff comprising 10 major, integrated teams.
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Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General 250 356-6961 |
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For more information on government services or to subscribe to the Province’s news feeds using RSS, visit the Province’s website at www.gov.bc.ca. |
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