Leicestershire Constabulary and West Midlands Police have been trialing the latest technology designed to assist them with the management and tracking of missing persons. The trial has proved very beneficial for the forces and both have signed contracts to adopt the new system - IMPACT - as a permanent force wide solution.

IMPACT - an intranet application designed specifically for tracking missing persons - has been developed by specialist software house WPC Software and Gloucestershire Constabulary. It holds details of reports linked to a missing person irrespective of how many times they have gone missing or how long they have been missing for. IMPACT allows officers to locate and compare information concerning missing persons at a few clicks of a button. This is particularly important in cases where time is of the essence. The system is compliant with the new ACPO Policy on missing persons and allows officers to continually reassess the risk levels of a missing person as time goes by and when new information comes to light.

WPC's applications are intended to make departmental information more accessible to the force, giving officers and administration staff the tools to do their job. Officers can log on to a PC anywhere within the force at anytime and access the information on IMPACT. Future plans for the system are interfaces to the NMPH (National Missing Person's Helpline) and NMPB (National Missing Persons Bureau) enabling the swift exchange of information. Now that Leicestershire Constabulary and West Midlands Police have proved how effective IMPACT can be, WPC Software are hoping more forces will take on the system so that information can be shared across the counties.