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Crime Fighting and Terrorism Prevention Initiative Goes Live
in Orange County
By Sandy Smith
08/12/05
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A new technology is playing a
significant role in helping law enforcement in one of the most populous
areas of the United States – Orange County, California – fight crime and
thwart terrorism by allowing agencies across multiple jurisdictions to
immediately share, analyze and act on information critical to ongoing
investigations.
Knowledge Computing Corp. says Phase I of the Orange County Integrated
Law and Justice (OCILJ) Project, powered by COPLINK, is fully
operational. The project was funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security through the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) grant
program.
"This initiative further demonstrates how proven, commercial
off-the-shelf crime fighting and homeland security solutions like
COPLINK can be deployed reliably, rapidly, cost effectively and less
intrusively to dramatically improve our nation's safety today," said
Robert Griffin, CEO of Knowledge Computing Corp..
In the first phase of the project, data was integrated from five police
agency records management systems and the Orange County Superior Court's
citation database. Phase II is underway and provides for the addition of
all other police agencies in the county by the end of 2006 or sooner,
with the timing only limited by the agencies' ability to provide the
required access to their systems' data. Included in this program are
other criminal justice agencies in Orange County, such as the Probation
Department and the District Attorney's Office.
Since the OCILJ Project went live, officers in participating agencies
have identified several suspects in active investigations that would
otherwise have gone unnoticed. These leads are now being further
developed and it is anticipated that some will lead to arrest warrants.
Officers using the system have noted that the COPLINK technology is a
powerful analytical tool.
COPLINK works by allowing vast quantities of structured and seemingly
unrelated data, currently housed in various incompatible databases and
records management systems (RMS), to be securely organized, consolidated
and rapidly analyzed over a highly secure intranet-based platform.
One search using known or partial facts from an ongoing investigation
can produce qualified leads that would otherwise be unapparent in
seconds – a process that prior to COPLINK wasn't possible at all or
often took days or weeks to accomplish. Through sophisticated analytics,
COPLINK builds "institutional memory," reduces knowledge gaps and
prevents criminals from falling through the cracks. For example, being
able to immediately search for persons or vehicles based upon partial
descriptions within minutes of a crime occurring is a huge advantage in
reducing the time between offenses and the apprehension of criminals.
"With COPLINK, law enforcement agencies across Orange County are able to
continuously share, analyze and act on information that contributes to
making well-informed decisions on how to deploy resources to prevent,
prepare for and respond to crime and terrorism," said Newport Beach
Chief of Police Bob McDonell, chairman of the Steering Committee for the
OCILJ Project. "It's a powerful tool that instantly puts significant
information at the fingertips of our investigators that would otherwise
be next to impossible to assemble or analyze, and that will help solve
and thwart illegal activity across Orange County."
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