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The
software offers police a lightning-fast means to collect and
analyze crime-related data from widely differing sources. |
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Police departments in Tucson
and Phoenix, Arizona's largest metro areas, shared a problem found
nationwide:
criminals don't stay in one place, but most crime
fighters do. Jurisdictional boundaries, isolated information
banks, and similar legal and technical obstacles all work to
frustrate law enforcement efforts.
Thanks to a unique partnership in this digital age, however, both
cities have become safer places in which to live. Knowledge Computing
Corporation (KCC) computer scientists, working in close
cooperation with the Tucson Police Department, have developed a
software solution that overcomes one of the biggest problems
facing crime fighters nationwide -- information sharing.
Called COPLINK®, the software offers police a lightning-fast means
to collect and analyze crime-related data from widely differing
sources, including stand-alone databases and information banks in
other government offices and jurisdictions.
"COPLINK enables us to overcome one of our biggest crime-fighting
problems," explains Sgt. Jennifer Schroeder of the Tucson Police
Department (TPD). "With COPLINK, we can track criminals across
jurisdictional boundaries more effectively than ever before."
COPLINK® began as a research project at the University of Arizona
Artificial Intelligence Lab (AI Lab), headed by Hsinchun Chen,
Ph.D. Dr. Chen founded Knowledge Computing Corporation, which
he created with the university's blessing to transform successful
lab projects into commercially marketable software products.
As its name implies, the AI Lab is deeply involved in advanced
"machine learning" technology, including better ways to link and
explore digitally stored information. "The challenge posed by the
Tucson police was intriguing because it had nationwide
implications and fit perfectly with our strongest research focus,"
Dr. Chen says.
The goal was to devise software that
any authorized person, at a desk or in a patrol car, could use
with minimal training. Using police personnel to field test the
application at each step, Chen's team built a system that is
powerful, comprehensive, and easy to use. Once a prototype was
in place, Tucson police linked up with their counterparts in
Phoenix. COPLINK® is now in use in both police departments.
In one case, COPLINK® enabled Tucson police to identify a shooting
suspect when the only hard information available was the name of
his sister's former boyfriend, who was known to have a police
record. COPLINK® sliced through the search in about five minutes,
eliminating hours of manual labor and investigative dead ends.
While other data-sharing systems offer a partial fix for law
enforcement, only COPLINK® meets all the criteria for a solution
that will work anywhere in the United States," Dr. Chen notes. "COPLINK
is a national model for law enforcement information sharing and
analysis."
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