MPS was unable to ensure that sensitive criminal records were not able to be uploaded correctly to the Police National Database (PND), or amended, or deleted and that this situation had been in place, unknown to MPS for some considerable time. The consequences of this failure cannot be measured but had the potential to cause significant damage. Of particular concern was that, even though PND had been operational since 2011 MPS had not developed any automated system of checks to ensure that the vast number of criminal record files that were uploaded daily to PND were correctly loaded. In the response to enquiries, MPS described the system of checks at the time of the incident as “immature”. This is concerning given the length of time that PND had been operational when the incident was discovered.