Workshop Schedule

Technology: Using It to Improve Effectiveness

• Designing Solutions with Crime Mapping
• Law Enforcement Technology: New Challenges and Opportunities for Success
• Information Sharing: Olympic Feats and Budget Tweaks
• Utilizing Video Technology in Law Enforcement
• Using Technology to Enhance Community Policing
• Success Stories and Technology Implementation
• 311 for Non-Emergencies: Setting Up for Success

Designing Solutions with Crime Mapping

Monday, June 16 (10:30 a.m. – noon)

Moderator: 

Mr. Sam Beamon, Grant Monitoring Specialist, COPS Office

Presenters:

Ms. Julie Wartell, Redlands (CA) Police Department
Ms. Elizabeth Groff, Institute for Law and Justice
Corporal Ronald Edwards, San Diego County (CA) Sheriff’s DepartmentCorporal Anthony Ray San Diego (CA) Police Department

Law enforcement agencies have incorporated Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to improve the management of their organizations and resources. GIS is also used in emergency management planning, preventing neighborhood crimes, and a wide range of analytical functions. The panel will discuss GIS applications and how these systems respond to the needs of law enforcement personnel and the communities they serve. The San Diego Sheriff’s Department has implemented GIS to support problem-solving efforts within its jurisdiction. The system provides immediate information access to all personnel, which helps to streamline problem-solving solutions. This workshop will also provide an overview of the East Valley Community Mapping Planning and Analysis for Safety Strategies (COMPASS) Initiative. This session will include a demonstration of some of the tools and products that have resulted from this effort, particularly emphasizing the use of GIS to help collaborative groups identify and solve public safety problems across a region. Finally, the Institute for Law and Justice will describe how “Smart Mapping” provides advanced spatial analysis tools to every member of the Metropolitan (DC) Police Department. These tools are used to analyze information from a variety of data sources using a single interface. This panel will be of value to both line officers and command staff looking to integrate GIS with problem-solving strategies for community policing and emergency response.

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Law Enforcement Technology: New Challenges and Opportunities for Success

Monday, June 16 (2 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.)

Moderator: 

Deputy Chief Ron Glensor, Reno Police Deptartment

Presenters:

Ms. Kelly J. Harris, SEARCH
Mr. William H. Romesburg, SEARCH

At the dawn of the new millennium, the culmination of a variety of events has created a sobering, challenging, and demanding time for law enforcement agencies in their fight against crime and terrorism. Now, more than ever, information technology is critical in that fight. Law enforcement response to and coordination during major national events, terrorist activities, regional incidents, daily law enforcement operations, and community policing activities cannot effectively succeed without technological support. Information technology is truly mission-critical to this country’s law enforcement efforts. Government and law enforcement agencies currently face major challenges to successful technology procurement and implementation, such as tight budgets, limited funding, staff shortages, and aggressive implementation deadlines. The variety of information and identification technologies available can be daunting. Despite information technology’s critical role in policing, the process of planning, purchasing and managing technology that effectively captures, maintains, analyzes, and exchanges information is difficult. This session will teach the keys to successful technology planning, best practices for procurement and contract negotiations, and effective implementation management strategies that will enhance your chances for success. This presentation will be of interest to those interested in finding out about key resources available, such as the new COPS Office publication Law Enforcement Tech Guide: How to plan, purchase and manage your technology (successfully)!

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Information Sharing: Olympic Feats and Budget Tweaks

Monday, June 16 (3:45p.m.-5:00p.m.)

Moderator: 

Mr. Joe Kuhns, Regional Supervisor, COPS Office

Presenters:

Mr. Steve Proctor, Executive Director, Utah Communications Agency Network
Officer David J. Dominguez, Rockford (IL) Police Department
Mr. Stanley Long, Project Coordinator, Rockford (IL) Police Department

Information sharing has rapidly emerged as a practical necessity in our ongoing efforts to secure our homeland. However, information sharing presents significant challenges in terms of interoperability, security, and implementation and maintenance costs. This workshop will highlight two successful projects that maximize the impact of inter and intraagency information sharing while balancing continual challenges with limited resources. The first presentation will describe the vision, development, and implementation of the Utah Communications Agency Network radio system, a public safety radio system that was used during the 2002 Winter Olympics. Since the conclusion of the Olympics, the system continues to serve over 100 individual public safety agencies and 80 percent of Utah’s population. The second presentation offers a glimpse of an information sharing approach that should be useful for medium and small agencies that are continually challenged by budget shortfalls. The presenters will demonstrate an Online Incident Viewer for Electronic Reports system that draws on a number of databases scattered throughout an agency and centralizes the information for analytical and dissemination purposes. This overall workshop will appeal to agencies of all shapes and sizes that are pursuing interoperability and information sharing projects. Agencies working on large-scale communication networks and departments that operate with limited IT resources and personnel should benefit from attending this workshop.

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Utilizing Video Technology in Law Enforcement

Tuesday, July 17 (10:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.)

Moderator: 

Ms. Shelley Baker, Grant Program Specialist, COPS Office

Presenters:

Director Jim Kuboviak, Ph.D., Law Enforcement Mobile Video Institute, Inc.
Officer Billy Cooper, Traffic Safety Unit, Bryan (TX) Police Department

The COPS Office In-Car Camera grant program was established in 2000 to assist state police departments stay at the forefront of rapidly changing mobile video technology. COPS offered supplemental training in the use of mobile video cameras through the Law Enforcement Mobile Video Institute (LEMVI), Inc. in 2002 to ensure that grantees made the most effective use of their new cameras. The LEMVI has provided in-car video training to law enforcement agencies throughout the nation since 1988. The use of mobile video equipment in law enforcement has made a tremendous impact in the collection and preservation of evidence, with the additional benefits of increased officer safety and public trust. This presentation gives law enforcement professionals of all levels a guide to the progression of in-car video technology, the procedures and policy development that are impacted by its use, and its ever growing importance to public trust and police integrity. This panel will be of benefit to line officers, command staff, and policy makers who interact with mobile video technology, and those agencies who wish to implement this technology.

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Using Technology to Enhance Community Policing

Tuesday, June 17 (2:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.)

Moderator: 

Ms. Judy Smith, Program Specialist, COPS Office

Presenters:

Mr. Luther Krueger, Crime Prevention Specialist, Minneapolis (MN) Police Department
Officer Craig Williams, Minneapolis (MN) Police Department
Mr. John Chapman, MA, Senior Researcher, Dorset Crime and Disorder Partnerships, United Kingdom
Mr. Matt Martyn, MS, Training Coordinator, Regional Institute for Community Policing, Springfield, IL.

Creating and maintaining partnerships between law enforcement and the community can be a challenge. In today’s information-oriented world, these three organizations have used technology to enhance their abilities to communicate with community stakeholders to make their cities safer. The Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) will discuss its Virtual Block Club (VBC), a permanent user-friendly Internet forum where community members can interact with each other and the MPD and share successful strategies for reducing crime. The Dorset Extranet for Crime Reduction Information Monitoring & Exchange (DE-CRIME) is a restricted Internet site for use by member agencies and is intended to foster a culture of wider information sharing, a key factor if the overall goal of reducing crime through collaboration is to be achieved. The main functionality of the system will be demonstrated, including the data dissemination and dynamic mapping facility, together with real-time target monitoring components. The Regional Institute for Community Policing (RICP) in Springfield, IL will demonstrate the IMAGINE databank which was developed to create an online library in which local or state officers, government organizations, community members, and other affiliated partners and associates can share ideas and projects and search for information. This workshop will be of interest to law enforcement officers and line staff, public officials, and community members seeking to develop better ways to share information. Attendees will see demonstrations of the projects these agencies have developed to take advantage of the Internet to strengthen partnerships to solve community problems.

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Success Stories and Technology Implementation

Tuesday, June 17 (3:45 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.)

Moderator: 

Mr. Michael Dame, Grant Program Specialist, COPS Office

Presenters:

Assistant Chief Al Ortenzo, Fort Lauderdale (FL) Police Department Sergeant Patrick Merrill, Grand Rapids (MI) Police Department Detective Alva Davis, West Valley City (UT) Police Department

The COPS Office has provided grants to local, state and tribal law enforcement agencies totaling more than one billion dollars to acquire and implement crime-fighting technologies that directly support community policing operations since 1995. Current technologies increase the ability of sworn personnel across the nation to reduce crime and solve community problems. This workshop panel, which will describe successful implementation and effective uses of technology, is comprised of presenters from Fort Lauderdale, Grand Rapids, and West Valley City. The Fort Lauderdale presentation will illustrate the Police Department’s evolution from traditional systems to state-of-the-art digital and computer-based investigative technologies, which has helped reduce crime by 58 percent since 1994. The Grand Rapids presentation will describe how customized off-the-shelf (COTS) solutions can be successfully implemented if there is a clear understanding of how to keep the technology development standardized, open-ended, and focused on the needs of the organizations. Finally, the West Valley City presentation will demonstrate effective usage of Ionscan technology to test for exposure to narcotics, particularly methamphetamines, with respect to enforcing child endangerment laws enacted across the nation. This workshop will be of value to all levels of law enforcement (line and command staff), plus civilian planners and technologists who intend to implement information technology to support law enforcement functions.

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311 for Non-Emergencies: Setting Up for Success

Wednesday, June 18 (8:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.)

Moderator: 

Debra Cohen, Ph.D., Senior Social Science Analyst, COPS Office

Presenters:

Prof. Lorraine Mazerolle, Ph.D., Fellow, Academy of Experimental Criminology; School of Criminology and Criminal Justice; Griffith University, Australia
Director Edward Harris Jr., Community Policing Support Bureau, Austin (TX) Police Department
Ms. Gloria L. Bingham, City of Houston (TX) Mayor’s Office for Public Safety and Drug Policy

The COPS Office has supported initiatives designed to help agencies establish 311 public safety communication systems for non-emergency calls since 1996. This panel is designed to provide strategies on how to set up a 311 system in a way that fully optimizes its benefits. Implementation efforts of three COPS-funded 311 systems are highlighted: Baltimore, Maryland; Austin, Texas; and Houston, Texas. Lorraine Mazerolle, from Griffith University, will discuss the results of her work with Baltimore Police Department as the Chief Research Principal for a COPS-funded study of non-emergency call systems. She will provide practical suggestions on 311-system set-up, dispatch policies, interfaces between 911 and 311 systems, and citizen education. Director Harris, from the Austin Police Department, will discuss why Austin sought a 311 solution to its police communications problems, describing 911 call load issues. He will also describe how the system was used to respond to increased call volume occurring after the September 11 tragedies and anthrax scares, discussing "what they did right" to utilize their 311 system successfully. Gloria Bingham, from the City of Houston will discuss how implementing Houston's 311 system led to the centralization of the city's call intake system and an overall reduction in 911 non-emergency call volume. She will provide practical strategies for ensuring success in multi-agency call integration, such as enacting an extensive citizen education campaign, and developing an aggressive internal recruitment strategy and training program. This panel will be of value to personnel involved in public safety communications.

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