CIS version 9.1 will enhance PIPS
PIPS was designed and introduced in 1999 mainly for recording pawners and pawned property items with serial numbers. However, its contribution to intelligence purposes is limited because the existing system does not contain non-PIP property items, and pawner information of each district is stored in the local formation.
The modified PIPS provides spreadsheet type layout for District Intelligence Section (DIS) officers to input PIP and non-PIP items conveniently and enable them to use the monthly pawn ticket code (Chinese Character Code) effectively for pawnshops in their respective district. After confirmation of HKID input, the system will automatically match the HKID of the pawner against the Lost/Stolen ID property item in CIS for Force wide level. Users can view the result and print out for reference.
With these new functions, DIS officers can easily retrieve the PIP and non-PIP items of their formation and conduct Force wide search on the subject pawner. Furthermore, specified officers of RIU and CIB can view a multiple pawning transaction report showing the pawners who have 10 or more pawning transactions found in any district within the last four months.
Apart from enquiry functions, the OC Case can make use of new functions to maintain a proper record of seized pawned property items in CIS and all actions taken are recorded and can be viewed by respective DIS. OC Case can save a lot of time for documentation as the relevant letters with existed information can be captured and generated from the system.
Tailor-made reports are also provided to help OC case and OC DIS to monitor the movement of seized pawned property. Bring Up message is added to remind OC Case to issue "Notice of Recovery of Goods" within seven days after the pawned property item has been seized from pawnshop and "Progress of Investigation on Recovered Property" every six months from the date of recovery until action was completed. The data storage period will be extended from five to nine months for intelligence purpose.
Two briefing sessions have been arranged for users and enhancement notes will be distributed through Force NoticeBoard. This enhancement aims at assisting users in management of pawned property items and collection of intelligence for crime investigation.
Nevertheless, the CIS enhancement is an on-going process and the next version (CIS v9.2) will be released in early 2007. Your feedback is welcome. Please contact CIP MS if you wish to make any suggestion.
CIS version 9.1 will be released sometime this month to enhance the functions of mainly the Pawned Identifiable Property Sub-system (PIPS), Bail Module, Debt Collection and Central Domestic Violence Database. In this issue of OffBeat, we introduce the enhanced functions of PIPS. Other enhanced key functions will be introduced in upcoming ForceByte. 
The modified PIPS will provide several new functions for DIS officers