Criminal investigation systems: the growing dependence on advanced computer systems

Methods of criminal investigation are often heavily dependent on the coordinated activities of people who collect, evaluate and analyse substantial quantities of information. Computing techniques are being increasingly employed to support such work and several specialised systems have been developed during the past decade to meet the needs of this technically demanding market. Since most existing and emerging standard database systems possess neither the requisite functionality, nor acceptable performance, the investigative field is one that is becoming a forcing house for new concepts and new technology.