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New
technology to make criminal investigations easier.
New technology to improve communication for cops
10/5/07
By Courtney Jones
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New technology is changing the face of law enforcement. Months ago
the Grand Junction Police Department applied for the Community
Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Grant on behalf of the Mesa County
Meth Task Force. It is a federal grant from the US Department of
Justice. On Monday night the Grand Junction City Council accepted
the $449,777 in grant funding.
Money from this grant will fund a couple of new programs and
additions to Mesa County, including one to purchase, operate and
coordinate an intelligence and data-sharing system. Police
administrators have been talking about becoming involved with a
program like this for some time and have now selected one called
Coplink.
"Here in Grand Junction we will host the node of that Coplink system
for all the western half of Colorado. So, our node will allow any
agency to point their data at us. Their information will come to us
over a secure internet connection and then we will connect to the
statewide infrastructure and by virtue of our node give connectivity
to the system." GJPD Deputy Chief, Troy Smith explains.
Coplink will allow officer to be in touch more quickly and easily
with colleagues across the state. It will also give them faster
access to information and evidence.
"This product also has a variety of very robust analytical tools
that allow investigators to very quickly sift through partial
information that we frequently get from witnesses during the course
of the commission of a crime." Smith also explains that "grand
junction police officers will be able to see arrest reports and
narrative reports from the Durango pd, the Denver pd the aurora
police department. It's an incredible tool for law enforcement."
So far all agencies in Jefferson County are already using the
Coplink system. Smith says he hopes to see Mesa County go online
with the system by the first quarter of 2008.
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