The system allows officers to exchange data on offenders

The Scottish Intelligence Database (Sid) allows officers to contribute data locally and search for nationwide patterns across force boundaries.

The Scottish Executive has backed the project with £5.8m for development and £1.5m for implementation and training.

Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson said the system would help police in their fight aginst crime.

She said it would improve the targeting of criminals, support the work of the Scottish Drugs Enforcement Agency (SDEA) and make local communities safer.

Harnessing modern technology is vital to modern policing Cathy Jamieson

Information on offenders, including methods, fingerprints, known associates, aliases and their vehicles, are all expected to be posted on the database.

It is hoped this will enable easier profiling and weaken the ability of criminals to escape detection across force boundaries.

Ms Jamieson said: "Criminals don't respect police force borders.

"If the police have an accurate picture about what is happening in one part of the country and that picture is based on sound intelligence they will be better placed to respond in another.

"Harnessing modern technology is vital to modern policing.

"Sid will replace several smaller databases with one nation-wide database and will, for example, enable an officer in Inverness to share relevant and current information with a colleague in Dundee."

Secure network

Sid will run on the Criminal Justice Extranet system, which already enables Scotland's eight forces and other crime-fighting agencies such as the SDEA to exchange information on a secure electronic network.

The Strathclyde and the Lothian & Borders forces, as well as the SDEA, are now linked up to Sid, which is due to be rolled out across the country by October 2004.

SDEA director and chairman of the Sid Project Board Jim Orr said: "Front line police officers who have the closest links with the communities they police, are finding the system extremely beneficial.

"Strathclyde Police has been using the system since September, and the response from officers so far has been extremely positive.

"Officers have been able to access a vast amount of information which was previously unavailable to them."