Dallas Police Developing Intelligence Hub With Unified Databases
Dallas is in the process of creating an intelligence command center that will allow officers to search through all 28 of Dallas’ police databases, ranging from narcotics and homicide to traffic tickets, in one easy-to-use system.
The Metro Operations Support and Analytical Intelligence Center, also know as the Fusion Center, will unify police information for the entire city and will help police identify the biggest threats and most dangerous criminals.
This type of information unification is part of a new type of policing called “intelligence-led policing” that was first developed in Great Britain and has been used with great success.
Similar systems are in use in New York, Los Angeles, and New Jersey, where last summer the system identified four gang members from different cities on a routine traffic stop. Although the information normally might have gone unnoticed, the unified system helped analysts determine that the Nine Tre gang was more widespread and sophisticated then previously thought. This information helped lead to the arrest of 90 gang members, including the entire leadership of the gang.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC) from the Dallas Morning News (01/16/07); Eiserer, Tanya.