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ON THE JOB NEWS DISCIPLINE JUST HANDED DOWN SOCIAL MEDIA RANGEMASTER MISSION CRITICAL SYSTEMS Solution in Action: Countywide Data Gives Investigators the Edge and Brings Bad Guys to Justice Julia Kocis - RIIC Program Manager using CODY Express and searching COBRA.net requirements and data security protocols. Today, Allentown is sharing its RMS data in real time through COBRA.net just like every other department in the county without additional data management overhead or new procedures to control what data is shared. "The agency simply continues with their RMS business as usual; COBRA.net does the rest," said Matt Fowler, CODY's Director of Data Services. Step 3 – Centralized eBooking and Data Exchange with the DA's Offce Once COBRA.net and CODY RMS were in place, next up was deploying the additional integrated justice aspects of the solution. First off, in support of the county's recent move to centralized booking of arrestees, the solution provided a new paperless and integrated Centralized Booking module that eliminates data entry and saves time. Previously, an offcer would have to return to his/ her station with the arrestee in custody, complete the arrest report, and then transport the arrestee to court or the county jail and wait for staff to review the report. That could take hours. Now the offcer can complete the arrest report on scene rather than at the station, immediately drop the arrestee off at the centralized booking facility, and return to duty. According to Julia Kocis, the DA's Offce Technical Assistance Liaison throughout the entire project, "The whole idea is to get the offcer back on the street sooner." Using the solution, central booking facility staff have direct access to the arrest report for review. Relevant data from the arrest report is automatically uploaded to the state's arrest photo capture system, eliminating data entry and possible keying errors. The digital photo is then automatically appended to the record in the arresting department's CODY RMS where it's available to offcers across the county, with the proper security access. Secondly, the County DA's offce now also has direct protected access to information and documentation from all participating CODY RMS departments. The interface has aided prosecution, saved time, and reduced paperwork. All incident reports are completed in CODY and all related documents are scanned or uploaded and attached electronically to the report in the system. When an incident report is marked "ready for DA," the report and all linked attachments are accessible electronically by the assigned assistant DA. Nothing is misplaced or unsent and all reports and documentation are current. "It's been a real time saver for everyone," according to Julia Kocis. And, because it's entirely paperless, "we're not killing trees," Chief Kish added. 26 LAW and ORDER I October 2013 Investigators at the county's Regional Intelligence and Investigation Center (RIIC) have also beneftted from the COBRA. net data core. RIIC investigators conduct specialized searches for information for identifying criminal behavior patterns, associations and solving crimes and offer this assistance to the region's smaller departments who lack internal resources to conduct in-depth investigations. According to Julia Kocis, now the RIIC Program Manager, "COBRA.net is the underlying data aggregator for RIIC. We knew that building COBRA.net frst would make the RIIC easier." Rather than having to purchase a closed data-sharing package with proprietary analysis tools, the county was able to get their independent data-sharing foundation in place frst so it could concentrate on fnding the right analytical tools to mine the information sources. It was through RIIC that investigators accessed COBRA.net information to help identify the suspect in the Bethlehem homicide. Witnesses described the vehicle the suspect fed in, and police were able to narrow down the model to two possibilities. A separate lead produced a pre-paid cell number used by a possible suspect, and a court order gave them a list of numbers called from that phone. Searching on those phone numbers found through COBRA.net, investigators identifed an individual living in another Lehigh County jurisdiction whose vehicle was one of the likely models. The vehicle information was originally included in a crash report entered into that jurisdiction's CODY RMS at the accident scene by the responding offcer several months before, and automatically available in COBRA.net. A subsequent interview of the vehicle owner ultimately led to the identifcation of the suspect. "I have lived in the Lehigh valley for over 23 years and am committed to keeping our neighborhoods safe by supporting law enforcement with the solutions they need to help take criminals off the streets," Exec. Muller said. "The solution developed through the careful collaboration between CODY and the county is proving to be an essential part in this endeavor. I have found the folks at CODY to be honest, dependable and hard-working." Key Factors for Success: Buy-in, Support and Commitment Julia Kocis cited several factors in the solution's successful rollout, including the unifed support of the chiefs as well as the executive-level commitment from the DA and county. "The buy-in from our organization was critical. The county could have provided the funding and stepped back, but that's an expensive gamble." Finally, she stressed the role of CODY: "They've been part of this from the beginning and they've been tremendous. Their commitment to client service continues to this day. From the help desk up to Fran Heffner, they always personally answer our call." LaO Post your comments on this story by visiting www.lawandordermag.com