Public Safety Information Sharing COPLINK Project

04/21/03
Des Moines, IA

On behalf of the E911 Executive Committee, comprised of Sheriff Dennis Anderson, DMPD Chief Bill McCarthy, WDMPD Chief Jack O’Donnell and Ankeny PD Interim Chief Merlin Christians, I would like to announce that Phase 1 of the COPLINK Project is now operational. We would like to invite the media to a demonstration of the COPLINK Technology on Friday, April 25, 2003 starting at 9:00 a.m. at the Des Moines Police Department in the Chief’s Conference Room on the first floor.

An example of where this technology would help law enforcement would be to suppose that two communities on opposite sides of the County are experiencing a series of crimes where someone is trying to lure a child near a school into a car. Maybe one of the communities has a witness that saw the color of a car or a description of a suspect or a partial license plate number or something that could really help an investigator in the other community.

Prior to COPLINK technology, officers had to call other jurisdictions to gather information. This new system enables those officers with a security clearance to search for a name, license plate number, description of a suspect or particular words or phrases in police reports.

This technology will benefit the fire service in much the same way by helping to solve arson investigations. It will also flag those locations that pose a threat to first responders.

Implementation of Phase 1 components include WESTCOM’s Computer Aided Dispatch and Report Management System databases, the Polk County Jail’s Booking and Mugshot databases, the fire service’s Firehouse databases and the State’s Corrections Offender database. Several Phase 2 components are also operational. They include DMPD’s Legacy files; Mugshots and Field Interview databases. Phases 2 – 4 will facilitate the remaining database interfaces needed to complete this project. This project is being funded with E911 surcharge monies at no expense to taxpayers.


Project History:

In early 2001, the Polk County Chiefs and Sheriff’s Association (PCCSA) led by Sheriff Anderson, Chief Moulder, Chief O’Donnell and Chief Scranton began exploring interoperability solutions for the metro area’s public safety voice and data systems. Within a very short period of time a metro-wide radio linker was established to link all Polk County law enforcement agencies together. The linkers give all law enforcement officers and dispatch operators the ability to talk directly with each other when the need arises. Prior to the linker, dispatch operators had to relay information to other agencies via the telephone or simulcast the information over the LEA channel. This was ineffective because not all patrol cars had the LEA channel.

On the data systems end, the PCCSA knew that information sharing was extremely limited because each public safety entity had their own separate stand-alone report management system. In essence each agency was data rich, but information poor. Simply put, these separate databases did not define the data to see what relationships existed in reported crime. At that time, investigators had to manually examine case files to determine patterns/relationships in reported crimes. This practice was too time consuming.

This awareness coupled with forward-thinking next led the PCCSA to appointing a technology committee comprised of representatives from the Ankeny, Des Moines and West Des Moines police departments, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office and the Polk County Fire Chiefs’ Association. The technology committee was challenged to find a middleware solution that would link all public safety databases together so that information could be easily shared.

In October of 2001, the technology committee made a trip to the Tucson, AZ, Police Department to study their recently implemented COPLINK Technology. They learned that the COPLINK Technology uses advanced artificial intelligence programming to cross reference crime data from various stand-alone databases and informational systems from different jurisdictions. And, that it consolidates information into one searchable data system to share information among agencies over a secure network.

Upon returning to Des Moines, the technology committee recommended that both modules of the COPLINK Technology be purchased:

COPLINK Connect:

This module merges stand-alone databases, such as mugshot files, vehicle identifications and crime locations, within departments and enables information sharing with participating agencies.

COPLINK Detect:

This module leverages artificial intelligence techniques to help investigators search for hidden links between people, organizations, locations, vehicles and weapons.

Expected Benefits:

Law enforcement will be able to share information on all crime reported throughout Polk County via the COPLINK server. This will allow investigators to search case files in real time to see what patterns/relationships exist in reported crimes. Fosters greater cooperation and collaboration in sharing of information and resources to solve crimes. Will enhance the E911 response because more information will be available to those officers responding to or handling calls for service. On the fire service side, we anticipate that the COPLINK is going to aid in Arson Investigations, automatically alert public safety responders to type and quantities of hazardous materials stored at call sites and personnel safety alerts (e.g. gang activity, acts of violence, meth labs, etc).

Components of the Project:

Phase I: WESTCOM databases, Polk County Jail’s Booking and Mugshot databases, Fire Department databases and Iowa Dept. of Corrections’ offender database.

Phase II: DMPD’s Legacy, Narcotics Investigations and Field Interview databases, and the Mid Iowa Narcotics Enforcement Task Force database.

Phase III: DMPD’s Intergraph CAD and Records Management Systems.

Phase IV: Polk County Sheriff’s Office and Ankeny P.D. CAD and Records Management Systems.