LocationsHow digital public goods are improving data flow between police and prosecutors in the Eastern Caribbean
May 28, 2026
PRMIS Leadership Training Session, Police Headquarters in Roseau, Dominica, April 2026
Across the Eastern Caribbean, people in judicial custody often wait two to four years on average for a trial. This reality is reflected in Barbados and Saint Lucia, where more than 50 percent of the prison population is incarcerated awaiting sentencing. The delay stems from the fragmented flow of information across the justice chain, marked by limited coordination between police, prosecutors, courts, and prison services. To address this challenge, UNDP through the Digital X 3.0 initiative supported the upgrade of the Police Records Management Information System known as PRMIS that now enables efficient data exchange between police and prosecutors.
Stronger institutional effectiveness and efficiency
PRMIS models the ethos of user centric design. Supported by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) and the United States, its development was informed by police officers who contributed at various stages from early prototyping to user testing. Their experiences were not only crucial in identifying technical design gaps, but also in ensuring that the system reflects the contextual realities of policing in the Eastern Caribbean.
From filing police reports more efficiently, to having timely access to case details, PRMIS has empowered police officers on the frontline to carry out their responsibilities more effectively. The system has 26 built-in modules, which standardize how crime and incident data are recorded, stored, and shared in electronic form. Its web-based functionalities also reduce reliance on physical registries and logbooks, which in the past have required police officers to return to their duty stations to manually document details.
Greater impact on human security
With a view to ensuring the benefits of PRMIS reach those most in need, Digital X 3.0 supported the upgrade of the system to enable secure, near-real-time data sharing between the police and prosecutors. Led by UNDP with support from the Government of Japan, the Digital X 3.0 initiative recognizes that digital public goods and other reusable digital solutions like PRMIS play a significant role in creating interconnected ecosystems that amplify human security to counter digital divides and power imbalances.
In Barbados, this upgrade translated to improved coordination between the police and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, where both entities now work from a shared case file with a common case identifier, live status tracking and a formal channel for prosecutors to provide feedback on case quality before trial. Digital X 3.0 also provided support for the capacity-building and change-management efforts essential to the successful rollout of the system updates. Judicial representatives from across the Eastern Caribbean region were further engaged through user testing sessions and feedback consultations to inform implementation.
The impact extends improvements in administrative efficiency though. For police officers across the Eastern Caribbean region, the use of PRMIS in the field means a shift in time commitment from administrative tasks to investigations. By improving the quality and completeness of case files at the investigation stage and enabling faster information sharing between police and prosecutors, PRMIS helps to reduce procedural delays. While several factors such as court capacity, legal representation and case complexity play a role in pre-trial detention, stronger information systems and frictionless data exchange are crucial for addressing bottlenecks that may increase vulnerabilities for people awaiting trial.
From the Caribbean to the world
In the Eastern Caribbean, police forces in Barbados, Grenada and Saint Lucia are already using PRMIS, delivering benefits to around 500,000 people. Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda and Belize are next in line for piloting, and other countries in Latin America and Africa have expressed interest in adopting the system. A key ingredient in the success of this increasing adoption is PRMIS publicly accessible code, which allows countries to review, re-use and adapt it to fit their unique needs.
PRMIS’ rollout in Barbados and other Eastern Caribbean countries shows how open, interoperable digital solutions can strengthen justice systems across different contexts. Its scalability and adaptability are helping transform PRMIS from a national tool into a regional solution that improves coordination and information exchange along the full length of the justice chain. This is the philosophy at the heart of the Digital X 3.0 initiative focused on human security and is embodied in how UNDP works as a development organization to unlock the long-term benefits of digital public goods and digital technologies for people and communities.
We invite governments, development partners and technology communities to explore PRMIS and see what value it could bring to you and your communities.
The authors would like to thank Vanessa Untiedt and Christalle Gemon (UNDP Barbados and Eastern Caribbean), Dwayne Carruthers and Xiuzhen Li (UNDP Digital, Innovation and AI Hub) for their expert contributions to this piece.