by Miranda G. McLeod
Staff Writer
The information super-highway has finally caught up with local police agencies.
The Law Enforcement Information Exchange, or LInx, is a record management system developed by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service for local agencies. It’s been dubbed “Google for Cops,” but it’s a bit more extensive than some of the convoluted query returns you might find when searching for data on the Internet.
LInx allows an officer to input a name, address, phone number, alias or illegal act, and the system will pull up all the information pertaining to key words — but it’s not just for Jacksonville. Relevant information will bounce back from 28 participating area agencies which form the Southeast Law Enforcement Alliance Project, or LEAP.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, as part of the LEAP in Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia, is able to use information which LInx has consolidated from the knowledge of the federal, state, county and municipal law enforcement communities. The area ranges from Kings Bay, Georgia through Jacksonville, down to Gainesville.
“LInx finally has us all talking,” said Sheriff John Rutherford. “It’s more operational than it is informational.”
Rutherford said chasing technology in the law enforcement industry is like trying to get a drink from a fire hydrant.
“There’s a ton of information to dip into and try and pull out what you need,” he said.
But LInx is changing that.
In August 2005, the Department of Justice formally entered into an information-sharing partnership with NCIS. NCIS had already spent a year conceiving the program and last month it was unveiled in Jacksonville. This week, more than 140 area deputies, officers, and sheriffs of area agencies learned how to use the system at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s Training Center.
“It’s simple. It takes three hours and they (the officers) walk out knowing all about the system,” said Brain Stamper, special agent for NCIS and program manager of LInx.
The system is heavily encrypted, according to Stamper.
“It falls in line with the DOD’s (Department of Defense) standard of secret. (The information) is just that secure,” he said.
Information obtained from LInx will also help improve officer safety, said Stamper. Officers can be more cautious if they know whom they’re dealing with.
“There’s information out there that hasn’t been known before. Officers can pick up tactical or analytical information. It’s a wonderful system,” he said, adding that some officers have broken cases just in training.
“Data sharing is something that should have been done for years,” said Roger Free, chief of police for Flagler Beach. There are 16 officers for Flagler Beach. Free and another officer trained at the FDLE center.
“We’ll go back and train the others. It’s real simple,” he said.
NCIS paid for the system and there is no cost to agencies involved, which allows NCIS to choose which agencies have access. It can deny agencies who may abuse the system and, because each query is monitored by NCIS to ensure proper use of the system, it is not an invasion of privacy and public record. The information is strictly criminal, not intel, according to Stamper.
“We can catch the bad guys and it doesn’t invade the good guys,” he said. “It’s an opportunity for agencies to get as much information as possible.”
LInx was developed by the NCIS in conjunction with Northrup-Grummond, post Sept. 11, to aid in preventing terrorism and to protect Naval assets. The Florida and Georgia project is one of five in the U.S. Other projects are located in Hawaii, Seattle, Norfolk, Va. and Corpus Christi, Texas. Access to information comes from local participating agencies and from agencies within the Department of Justice, which include: the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives, the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the United States Marshals Service.
Information transcends state lines and enhances the ability of law enforcement to more effectively connect the dots, provide better security of Naval Assets, support preventive, investigative and enforcement activities, all while enhancing overall public safety, according to NCIS.
“The system works because the chiefs and sheriffs are strong leaders who want it to work in their community,” said Stamper.