Chris Fox says all police must work for the common good

Association of Chief Police Officers president Chris Fox said it was time to stop talking and "opt in" to the plan.

The system would open suspects' files to all forces in England and Wales.

Sir Michael Bichard recommended it after investigating why murderer Ian Huntley was employed at a school, despite sex allegations against him.

Huntley - who worked at Soham Village College - murdered Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in Soham, Cambridgeshire, in 2002.

Discussion has got to stop and we have got to accept what the decision is Chris Fox Acpo

The IT system was a key recommendation among 31 measures from Sir Michael Bichard's inquiry into how Huntley managed to get his job.

At the Acpo annual conference in Birmingham on Tuesday, Mr Fox said: "At some point discussion has got to stop and we have got to accept what the decision is and that is what we implement.

"We can't afford one force to opt out - everybody has got to opt in."

He said several police IT experts believed they had better solutions to setting up Project Impact.

But he said they should all work to the common good.

An interim system, called PLX, is already in operation.

Sir Michael's inquiry, which reported in June 2004, looked at how police forces and related agencies shared information about suspects.

It was set up after it emerged that Humberside police and social workers in Lincolnshire had an extensive list of allegations made against Huntley which were not passed on to detectives in Cambridgeshire.