Queensland Police sells forensic management system to Bdna

The Queensland Police Service has sold the state’s 18-year-old forensic case management system to Brisbane-based systems integrator Bdna.

The acquisition comes more than two years after the force went looking for “potential innovators” to commercialise the system in a bid to better focus efforts on frontline policing activities.

The register, which is also used by other policing agencies across Australia, was developed by QPS in 2003 to give officers the ability to record DNA analysis and images in a single register.

It integrates with the force’s core operational database QPRIME, and is also used by Queensland Health’s forensic and scientific service to manage the state’s forensic needs.

Other policing agencies can search the system using the national investigation DNA database and the national automated fingerprint identification system (NAFIS).

QPS acting assistant commissioner Steve Dabinett said that while evolution of the forensic register was vital, managing future development of the system was no longer “core police work”.

“So we chose to commercialise the system in an effort to better focus on frontline policing activities,” he said.

Bdna partner Marty Wauchope said the company was well placed to support policing agencies across Australia integrate the register with their current systems and databases.

The company has supported the integration of the register with QPS systems for a number of years, and is also involved in other core policing system projects across Australia.

“At bdna we have a long-established history of working with policing and health and our dedicated forensic register team includes forensic specialists who have an in-depth knowledge,” he said.

“We will continue to work closely with all agencies that the QPS developed relationships with regarding the forensic register.”

The company said it was now working with other policing agencies that currently use variations of the system and analysis laboratories to help them realise efficiencies.

Any future development of the system is also expected to be done collaboratively to ensure it continues to support the needs of users.