Unilink has won a contract with the Police and Magistrates' Courts in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight to integrate the handling of Court warrants.

The aim of the project is to improve the percentage of fines that are paid. When an arrest is made, the system will cross-reference the name of the suspect with the database of outstanding warrants, and will flag them to the arresting officer.

Peter Downton, operations director at Hampshire and Isle of Wight Magistrates and County Courts, said that both the institutions will benefit from sharing information. He said that a person with outstanding warrents is more likely to abscond from bail, wasting more police and court time.

"Police arrest people every day for whom there may be Court warrants outstanding. For the Courts this makes enforcement that much easier," he said.

If all goes according to plan, the system will be implemented in April 2004. ®