RCMP Fact Sheets

Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC)

QUICK FACTS • The CPIC system is currently processing over 130 million transactions per year. • The Automated Canada United States Police Information Exchange System (ACUPIES) provides CPIC users a link to the U.S. National Crime Information Centre data banks, and all U.S. users access to the CPIC files. Currently, this link is processing over 12 million transactions per year.

Overview
The Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) is a computerized system that provides tactical information about crimes and criminals. It is an integral part of the RCMP’s National Police Services (NPS) as it is the only national information-sharing system that links criminal justice and law enforcement partners across Canada and internationally.

CPIC is responsible for the storage, retrieval and communication of shared operational police information to all accredited criminal justice and other agencies involved with the detection, investigation and prevention of crime.

CPIC has been operational since 1972, and is located in the RCMP Headquarters complex in Ottawa, Ontario. It allows for over 80,000 law enforcement officers to connect to the central computer system within 3,185 police departments, RCMP detachments, and federal and provincial agencies across the country.

The CPIC system has four data banks, Investigative, Identification, Intelligence and Ancillary (containing information not found in the other categories), which includes files and information on:

• Vehicles:
  Stolen licence plates, validation tags, or vehicles; stolen vehicles, abandoned or wanted in connection to a crime.
  
  
• Persons:
  Persons wanted by the police or accused persons; persons on probation or parole; persons against whom prohibition orders have been placed (e.g. driving, possession of firearms); missing persons, including children; body marks/scars; clothing and dental records or body parts that can be cross-referenced; amnesia, comatose or disaster victims.
  
  
• Property:
  Stolen guns, articles and securities.
  
  
• Marine:
  Stolen and abandoned boats and boat motors.
  
  
• Dental Characteristics:
  Individual dental records (a sub-system of Persons File) to assist police in identifying human remains or comatose and amnesia victims.
  
  
• Canada Firearms Registry:
  Information on individuals regarding firearms licences, registration, etc.
  
  
• Criminal Records:
  Full criminal record information.
  
  
• Wandering Persons Registry:
  Persons registered with The Alzheimer's Society of Canada; to assist police in identifying and returning persons suffering from this disease.
  
  
• Criminal Record Synopsis:
  Condensed version of criminal records supported by fingerprints maintained by the RCMP’s Information and Identification Services.
  
  
• CPIC Surveillance:
  Contains criminal intelligence information and information on persons, vehicles and boats which are under surveillance. This information is contributed by police agencies, and access is restricted to police agencies.

CPIC Renewal
The CPIC Renewal Project successfully concluded in March 2005, and work to maintain and refresh the system continues as “CPIC Transition”. The CPIC Transition process will ensure the ongoing security and functionality of the CPIC system so that it will continue to protect and assist our law enforcement officers in their efforts to provide Canadians with safe homes and safe communities.