[November 05, 2008]

Countywide program sets the pace in state

Nov 05, 2008 (The Dominion Post - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
A $282,000 federal grant will put laptop computers in Monongalia County, city, state and WVU police cruisers, linking them to a countywide database of police activity.

The COPS grant is the second received by Mon County police to create an information-sharing system unlike any other in West Virginia.

The first grant, for $236,000, was used to buy In-Synch software for Morgantown, Granville, Star City, Westover, WVU Police, the Monongalia County Sheriff's Department, W. Va. State Police and the Monongalia County prosecuting attorney. That software allows police agencies here to share all records of arrests, calls for response and related police incidents.

In simple terms, if you're arrested for shoplifting in Granville today and again tomorrow in Morgantown, police will know to charge you with a second offense. In the past, that type of charge might have been kept only at the city court, so someone could be charged more than once with first-offense.

Or, if Westover police talk with someone about a convenience store robbery today and State Police picks up the suspect near another store that is robbed tomorrow, the information about the earlier interview will be available through the information sharing In-Synch system.

"The very best thing out of this whole system for the Morgantown police, as I see it, is this mobile reporting," Morgantown Police Chief Phil Scott said. "That means my officers don't have to run back here to file a report every time they've responded to an incident. The officers are going to be on the street more than they are right now."

Computers can help solve crimes if everyone is on the same software, said Granville Chief Ron Snyder, who wrote the grants. The City of Morgantown is acting as the grant recipient and administrator, because it must be handled by a public agency.

"This county works fabulously together, as far as law enforcement," Snyder said.
That cooperation isn't common nationally, so Monongalia County has caught the eye of federal grantors, Scott said.

"We've torn down the barriers," he said. "I don't care if Westover sees our reports. Westover doesn't care if we see their reports."

Both chiefs said they worked closely with Rep. Alan Mollohan's, D-W.Va., office on the grant application.

Officers are already using the In-Synch software to prepare reports, which are shared. Morgantown Police also paid to transform more than 20 years of their former records to a file that In-Synch can access.

Not all the old records were converted, but names and "pointer" files were created. Using this method, In-Synch will recognize a name entered now as one in MPD's records and "point" out the report number for reference.

"So we've got a lot of information in it," Scott said.
The in-cruiser computers will allow officers to write reports and access the county database from cruisers. Most driver's licenses, for example, now have a bar code that can be scanned into the computer for the report and reference. All items entered into the laptops will go to the entering department's server, and all the county departments' servers share information.

Morgantown has already installed wireless routers downtown and plans to do so in other areas, so officers can dump information from their computers just about anywhere.

Current estimates are that Morgantown Police will receive 15 laptops; the sheriff's department 11; WVU Police, seven; and Westover, Granville and Star City police five each.

Granville donated a software license to Kingwood Police, and Marion County is purchasing a license, so eventually the information sharing will extend beyond the borders of Monongalia County. (The Preston County Sheriff's Department recently converted to a form of In-Synch software.)

Officers hope to have the laptops in cruisers and working by early 2009. A committee with members from each of the participating police agencies will meet this week to agree on specifications for the computers, so they can be let to bid. The bids will include installation and batteries, and the grant pays for the software licenses for the computers.

"The company that developed this is watching this very closely," Scott said. "I think we're setting the pace for other places in West Virginia."

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