| |
COPLINK®
Jumpstarts Metro Policing and Expands in Texas With the
Opening of The Houston Police Department's Crime Center
Tucson, AZ
2/26/08
BACK...
|
|
|
Knowledge Computing Corporation
today announced that its award-winning COPLINK® solution suite is
successfully deployed and supporting the Houston Police Department's
Crime Center. The Houston Crime Center's mission is to analyze and
disseminate real-time crime information that will enhance field
personnel's ability to solve violent crime. COPLINK's end-to-end
information sharing, tactical lead generation, analytics, visualization
and decision support solution is used to help police officers solve
crimes, reduce violent crimes and improve community safety. The Houston
Crime Center was unveiled to the public last week by Mayor Bill White
and Police Chief Harold L Hurtt.
"Houston's Crime Center is a great example of how COPLINK increases the
effectiveness of metro policing strategies by instantly delivering
tactical and actionable leads to crime analysts and field officers alike
that would otherwise be next to impossible to assemble or analyze," said
Chief Hurtt. "This technology will significantly speed the process of
identifying and apprehending violent or petty criminals who might
otherwise remain under the radar and will help keep Houston safe."
"Houston has a leadership position in effective urban policing
strategies, and we are pleased to support their efforts to thwart and
apprehend criminals across the metropolitan area with COPLINK," said
Robert Griffin, CEO of Knowledge Computing Corp. "This initiative also
expands regional capability to combat all crimes-all threats by building
on the successes of Houston's first COPLINK deployment in 2006 at the
Houston Regional Intelligence Service Center - a counterterrorism fusion
center."
COPLINK provides unparalleled analysis and decision support for rapidly
identifying criminal suspects, relationships and patterns that help
solve crime and thwart terrorism. Using a NIEM and LEXS API compliant
interface, it works by allowing vast quantities of structured and
seemingly unrelated data - including data currently housed in various
incompatible databases and records management systems - to be securely
organized, consolidated and rapidly analyzed over a highly secure
intranet-based platform.
One search using known facts and/or partial descriptions from an ongoing
investigation can in seconds, produce qualified leads that would
otherwise be unapparent - a process that prior to COPLINK was not
possible or often takes days or weeks to accomplish. Through
sophisticated analytics, including powerful visualization tools, COPLINK
builds "institutional memory," reduces knowledge gaps and prevents
criminals from falling through the cracks.
Chief Hurtt added, "Houston's Crime Center is the realization of a
long-term vision. It is a regionalized tool that promotes
interoperability between local, federal and state law enforcement
agencies by providing real time data analysis and distribution.
Pertinent, accurate information disseminated quickly to field officers
will help keep Houston safe."
Additional information on the Crime Center is available from Chief Hurtt
through his blog at: http://hpdchief.blogspot.com/2008/02/crime-center-grand-opening.html.
Like every COPLINK deployment, Houston uses the solution for law
enforcement purposes only, utilizing public data from the Houston Police
Department's records management system as well as the Harris County
Sheriff's Office's jail management system. Data from these systems
continues to reside and be updated at the existing sources to protect
the integrity of the data and sensitive information. In addition, users
are only able to view and access criminal history records according to
their security clearances.
COPLINK also creates a detailed audit trail for every search conducted.
This serves two purposes. Officers seeking to question or obtain a
warrant on suspects identified through the system are able to clearly
demonstrate with hard facts how that person fits the criminal profile
and how others were excluded. The System Administrator is also able to
monitor use for audit purposes to identify any abuse that would result
in suspension of a user's access privileges under the policies
established by participating agencies.
Designed by line-level law enforcement officers and investigators,
COPLINK is tactically sophisticated yet user-friendly. Even the most
non-technical law enforcement officials can master it in less than a
day.
Winner of numerous awards, COPLINK was recognized twice by the
International Association of Chiefs of Police for deployments in Tucson,
Arizona and across the State of Alaska. The Center for Digital
Government also recognized COPLINK as one of the best-of-breed and most
innovative IT projects undertaken by cities in the nation.
About Knowledge Computing Corporation
Knowledge Computing Corp. provides technology-based crime-fighting
solutions to leading edge law enforcement agencies nationwide. Its
critically-acclaimed COPLINK® solution, in use since 1998, is based on
knowledge management technology first prototyped by top-ranked
researchers in the Artificial Intelligence Lab at the University of
Arizona in Tucson through a grant by the National Institute of Justice.
The technologies developed at Knowledge Computing Corp. have been tested
and proven by law enforcement agencies around the country. For more
information: www.knowledgecc.com or www.coplink.com.
BACK...
|
|
