Police trial new crime case tracking system

Reports by TREVOR WAHUNE
AN integrated criminal case system database displayed yesterday can track criminal cases from the point of arrest to detention in corrective institutions, an official says.
The database was displayed at an exhibition by the National Judicial Staff Services to show various databases and court information technology infrastructures used by the National Court and Supreme Court.
Kwara Giriwa, the national criminal process improvement project secretariat project manager, said it was a web-based application which could capture fingerprints, photographs and other external identifiers such as passports and national identity cards for offenders.
“It also can now record all parties involved in a case such as the lawyers, witnesses and victims,” he said.
“It is the first modern technology-based tracking system in the region, including Australia and New Zealand, which tracks criminal cases from the point of arrest to
disposition in corrective institutions.”
A memorandum of understanding on the project was signed by law and justice agency department heads in 2014.
The project is being piloted in Port Moresby, Lae, and Wewak.
The database recording of indictable offences began in 2017.
It can upload and download documents associated with criminal process, transmit electronic documents to other jurisdictions, automatically generate reports and graphs such as management reports, judicial reports, and timeline reports.
“It can also produce reports and graphs of a number of convictions by the national courts, and also cases delayed, case loads and case status,” Giriwa said.