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Call it a cyber detective. A high-tech crime fighting tool developed right here
in Arizona is now putting crooks behind bars faster than ever. The Crime Scene
Investigators you watch on TV solve crimes in one hour. Now, with a simple click
of a mouse, "you can search by name, where they live..." Arizona cops can solve
crimes almost as fast.
Knowledge Computing Corp.'s Bob Griffin says, "80-percent of all crime is
committed by 20% of the criminal population. these folks are somewhere in the
system." Finding them used to take days - weeks - even months. But now, with
COPLINK® - a high-tech computer program - cops can find the bad guys in just
hours.
Griffin says, "it's really designed to give police a good place to start."
COPLINK® takes bits of information - a license plate number, a weapon - a
nickname - even a tattoo - to make connections and solve crimes, "with more
information.. create a mug book" Like the case they call: 'get shorty'. In this
Tucson parking lot - a victim's shot, his throat slashed, and run over, left for
dead. But he's still able to tell police that 'shorty' did it, and Shorty has a
tattoo on his arm with the name 'Caesar'. With COPLINK® - Tucson investigators
type in those two clues - and find their man.
Griffin says, "they were able to solve this crime in less than five hours."
Tucson Police Detective Tim Petersen says, "I think every police officer in the
country could make great use of it." Washington D.C. investigators working last
year's sniper case figured that out - calling on Petersen and COPLINK® for help.
Petersen says, "the names of both of those suspects popped to the surface
immediately along with the vehicle they were in." That was the week
investigators finally caught their two suspects, but had they used COPLINK®
earlier Griffin believes they would've found their link between the suspects and
their car - much sooner.
Griffin says, "With all the data they had they would've been able to identify
this caprice after the third shooting ."
This amazing technology got its start in Tucson; developed at the University of
Arizona and tested at the Tucson Police Department. Now - police departments in
12 other states including Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan and Texas have signed
on. And in just a few weeks the Phoenix Police Department joins the pack with
COPLINK®, up and running, ready to catch valley criminals.
Petersen says, "This is by far the coolest bit of equipment by far that I've
been able to get my hands on."
It's cool, it's quick - and it's working. The federal government is now looking
at ways to use COPLINK® to help with homeland security and prevent terrorism.
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