Data Processing in the Police Service
| Date | 01 February 1964 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X6403700205 |
| Author | Raymond Hurford |
| Published date | 01 February 1964 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
DET. SUPT. RAYMOND HURFORD
South Western Criminal Record Office, Bristol
DATA
PRO~ESSING
IN
THE
POLI~E
SERVI~E
A lot
of
police work is concerned with the recording and filing of
information relating to crime and criminals, followed by the necessity
for retrieving it from the indices.
All forces have to provide statistics for the Home Office covering
offences committed and persons dealt with. Of the manual methods,
probably the most used is that employing peripherally punched
cards, of which many types are available. These systems require
that for each crime a separate card must be used, and the individual
characteristics
of
any particular offence are then indicated by
punching out the appropriate slots. This method also entails the
completion
of
certain details relating to the time, date and locus
of
the crime, name and address of the injured person, property stolen
and its value, and, where applicable, the name, age and address of
the offender.
Having recorded all this information it is frequently necessary to
retrieve from the system. This results in considerable sorting of the
cards by a "
rod"
and does not entirely eliminate the possibility
of
cards sticking together with consequent incorrect data being
obtained.
After considerable investigation and trial I have used an adaptation
of the Brisch Vistern system for recording crime statistics. This
system is an entirely new approach to problems involving the
recording and retrieval of information, and, being new has not, so
far as I know, been used by police forces before.
It
is already
accepted in industry, however, as a valuable asset to efficient business
organization, one
of
its greatest advantages being its flexibility and
simplicity
of
operation.
Unlike any other system I know, it is based on the allocation
of
one card to each type of crime as opposed to one card for each crime.
As will be seen later, this results in reduction of running costs and
saving
of
time in addition to greater efficiency, so that it provides
great opportunity for economical retrieval
of
specific items
of
information.
The basic requirements are a special punch and cards which
contain marked squares giving a capacity of 1,000(11 in. Xsix in.),
or 2,500 (12 in. X10 in.), (for special needs a card with capacity
of
10,000 is available.)
The individual cards, which are known as feature cards, will in
this instance represent such things as Type
of
Offence, i.e., according
February /964 57
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