Police in multiple jurisdictions can now track suspects in other
jurisdictions through a shared computer database accessible in
police cruisers.
The project is one of 27 ventures introducing innovative
technological ways of making catching criminals easier and was made
possible by a grant from the province to Ontario Police
Services.
"The funding was useful in that it allowed Police Services to
develop information systems and purchase hardware to enable the
sharing of information electronically," said Tony Brown,
spokesperson for the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional
Services.
The objective is to improve community safety and have more
effective criminal investigations through electronic sharing of
information, he said. "The system will also be a time-saver for
investigators."
"Traditionally, if I was an investigator in Hamilton and I was
investigating a case, because the bad guys don't honour
jurisdictional lines, I would phone my counterpart in Halton," said
Tom Marlor, deputy chief of the Hamilton Police. "Then there would
be a process of finding the information needed and sending it
either through fax or mail to the other police department."
The new system makes querying other cities' databases possible,
even on a national level, he said.
"The national concept was to be able to allow us with that
proper security and authority to go into other people's databases
and look and see what they had," said Marlor.
The system is not just connecting police in Ontario, about 25
per cent of officers in Canada currently have access to the
database in jurisdictions spanning Halifax to Vancouver, said Eldon
Amoroso, senior director, Support Services, London Police
Service.B
Amoroso is also a member of the Informatics Committee of the
Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police which has been very active
on sharing issues.
"I think it is really important to note that 10 years ago it was
much more difficult to share and track and there were many more
peripheral issues around sharing," said Amoroso. "Today, the chiefs
really want to share because it's important to do so."
The RCMP has been very supportive of police sharing projects
from the beginning, including allowing the police services to use
their network for the entire project, according to Amoroso.
Amoroso said the real benefits of the system have already been
proven through small cases and in a double homicide investigation
in Ottawa where important information used to solve the case was
found in Vancouver.
"It shows that even though this is a huge country and you can
wonder what police would need to know in Vancouver from Ottawa
there are often connections," said Amoroso. "I think this system
has really proven itself as an aid to public safety."
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