After the changes, police piloting the system found a 40 percent improvement in response times when searching for information. In order to see the information input by another force, however, cross-force agreements have to be in place.

The system helps police process the vast amounts of information generated during investigations, and aids them in identifying critical information links that could hold the key to solving a case.

During the last ten years, the HOLMES system has been used in around half of murder investigations, and has helped police solve multi-million pound fraud cases. It was used by the Metropolitan Police to help identify British citizens involved in the September 11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon.

In early April the NPIA , Logica, to build the Police National Database which will contain data on the criminals themselves. That appointment came five years after the Bichard report stated that police data sharing needed to be improved "as a matter of urgency".

That report, into the police investigation of the murders of schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, found that the failure to link up intelligence led to the killer, Ian Huntley, being able to work as a school caretaker in spite of previous criminal allegations in areas of the country covered by other police forces.