Headline – C.O.B.R.A. and Regional Data Sharing:
Berks County, PA: August, 2004 -- In early 2000, after a county-wide cooperative development and hands-on beta testing, the Wyomissing Police Department of Berks County, PA, officially and successfully launched the first C.O.B.R.A. regional access data-sharing network. Now the 44 police departments in Berks County are experiencing regional data sharing.
The immediate goal of the project was to provide municipal officers across the county with access to valuable county incident, want and warrant files in “real-time” through a single point of contact. Michael J. Spear, Chief of the Central Berks Regional Police Department, said prior to C.O.B.R.A., departments had never shared any information. They now have real-time access to all county offender data from all departments and mobile units from anywhere in the county.
Spear, along with Chief Theodore (Randy) R. Cole, Kutztown Borough Police Department, Kutztown, PA, and Wyomissing’s Sgt. Robert (Rob) F. Johnson, spearheaded the project. Chief Cole echoed Spear’s sentiments and added that the investigative possibilities for the new county-wide system are where the true power lies. For officers to be able to go back through incidents and check what has already occurred, and who was involved, even if it wasn’t in their township or city, makes the new system a boon for Berks County. The system also provides a quick link to vital statewide warrants, NCIC, JNET and other information. And, as of June, 2004, the original C.O.B.R.A. system has expanded its capabilities to include and embrace data from adjoining counties through an inter-county Justice-Hub.
Cooperation at the Command Post:
From the outset there were challenges, hurdles, roadblocks, objections and questions. How can system and data security be maintained over a wide network? Can we ensure that information from individual departments is not co-mingled into a single database? What about any disparity between records management systems in different departments? How do we connect departments that don’t have an electronic records management system? Will the solution accommodate county-wide growth and expansion? Who’s going to pay for it?
According to Sgt. Johnson, the third member of the team, the biggest initial problem was how to connect all the departments. No department had deep enough pockets to make the connectivity thing work. They knew the vendor (CODY Systems) had the technology to do it. They just had to figure out how the connectivity was going to be accomplished.
Then the county stepped in and created the records server, which provided the necessary connectivity. The end result was a little bit different than the trio had envisioned, but it’s free, and free is good for municipal government. The project was, indeed, burdened with questions from the outset. In fact, the story begins with a question. Berks’ bold trek toward county connectivity got its foothold in the late 1990s when, like other counties across the country, its local law enforcement and government agencies were faced with the dreaded “Y2K problem”— the knowledge that their computers and software were not going to be supported once the calendar turned over to 2000. Several police departments throughout the county initiated system upgrades, which, at the same time presented the opportunity to upgrade their records management systems. It was after one of those departments completed its own system upgrade that the idea of sharing was first proposed. Sgt. Johnson, recalling the moment when the data-sharing idea was born, said that his department was looking at ways to limit some of its costs, and he suggested to his chief that they should see if it was technologically feasible to have a few departments around them work off one of their servers.
With a nod from the chief, he called CODY Systems. The CODY records system (RMS) was already the choice of the majority of the departments throughout the county, including Wyomissing. CODY suggested that it would be great if they could collaborate and create something that the entire county could use. The software engineers at CODY began working with a task force that included representatives of the local police departments, the Berks County Chiefs Association, and Berks County Communications Center.
The solution that finally made this networking possible is a unique and highly specialized data-sharing interface called C.O.B.R.A. (center-point based regional access), developed by CODY. The basic concept behind C.O.B.R.A. is data encryption and interoperable, real-time communication over a dedicated wireless link between a center-point and the records management systems at each local department. Ideally, records query communications are made directly from a patrol car through a wireless connection to the county center-point, either through a laptop computer or an MDT. But that connection left a critical sector out of the loop— those departments, especially smaller ones, who did not yet have mobile communications. This was overcome by building a wide area network (WAN) that connects each department to the center-point, Fred Hershey said. Hershey is project manager for the Berks County IT department; included among his responsibilities is serving as liaison between the county, CODY and AT&T in the installation of the appropriate circuitry. According to Hershey, the system is basically a frame relay network with routers on each end that allow communications. The network is protected because it is not a public network, but a direct connection that ensures a great measure of security.
With this solution, each police department, large and small, can maintain its own records database. Self-selected data is automatically encrypted and passed, through the C.O.B.R.A. interface, to the center-point where it is accessible to every other department in the county. Now, any local department can quickly search not only its own files but the center-point files as well. C.O.B.R.A. gives investigators across the county the ability to determine if crimes of similar nature are occurring within the county.
Once the logistics of universal connection were determined, other concerns arose only to be conquered. One such apprehension concerned data security. But C.O.B.R.A. provides secure encryption of highly sensitive police data so it can be safely transmitted over the wireless or wide area network, securing data transmissions to and from the center-point.
Moreover, C.O.B.R.A. has universal data-source translation capabilities and operates independently of other software products in the network. C.O.B.R.A. can communicate with virtually any records management software package available today, and can translate any applicable data-source (JXML, SQL, secured TCP/IP, etc.). While 28 of the 44 departments in the county upgraded to CODY RMS, there was still a variety of records systems being utilized by the other departments. Another early issue was data privacy. Yet individual records are still secure in their respective departments through C.O.B.R.A.. Each department controls which data is passed to the centerpoint, where each department has its own dedicated file space. This means the data is not co-mingled into one file. This was particularly important because of rules spelled out by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office about not co-mmingling data.
Sgt. Johnson put it simply when he said, “We own our own records.” It’s the center-point that is queried when you do a C.O.B.R.A. search, not individual departmental records, so departments do not have to give up control overtheir data. Of special concern were the county’s smaller departments whose Y2K upgrades were made simply to desktop PCs without records management software or a private server. To complete the communications loop between all agencies across the county, a solution was needed that would be compatible with the wide variety of technologies employed.
These smaller departments were brought into the network as “satellite” users. Their local PCs were connected to the center-point through special CODY RMS software. This allows them to interface with the center-point as though it was their own server. Their data is stored directly at the centerpoint rather than being passed to it. Now, through the WAN connection, they are able to share their data with other departments throughout the county and, importantly, they are able to perform data searches directly from their desktop PCs.
Today, four years later, Berks County has an interoperable datasharing interface that unifies law enforcement agencies across the county. Access to centralized records is available to every department in the county, enhancing incident and criminal investigations and virtually eliminating investigative redundancy. Yet each department maintains its autonomy and independence.
And while this approach has fostered communication, collaboration and cooperation within the Berks County law enforcement fraternity, its implications are more far reaching. From small-time crooks with more mobility to terror threats and interstate kidnappings, the need for more open, regionalized sharing of data between agencies is clear.
David Noble is a freelance writer. He may be contacted through www.codysystems.com.
For more information on this project and others currently underway by CODY, please contact:
CODY Systems at 610-326-7476 or info@codysystems.com.
Also visit CODY on the web at www.codysystems.com.
About CODY Systems -- CODY Systems has remained an industry leader in the protection, management, and analysis of critical information for public safety, law enforcement, and federal agencies for over 25 years. Specializing in integrated single-source solutions and interoperable information-sharing, CODY is sought by agencies world-wide for its combination of ground-breaking 21st century technologies and old-fashioned 'first-name basis' services. CODY's industry-leading products include: RMS (records), CAD (dispatch), CMIS (case management & intelligence analysis), MRMS (mobile records), C.O.B.R.A. (center-point based regional access) -- CODY's JXML compliant, open-data-source information-sharing interface, and many more.
The immediate goal of the project was to provide municipal officers across the county with access to valuable county incident, want and warrant files in “real-time” through a single point of contact. Michael J. Spear, Chief of the Central Berks Regional Police Department, said prior to C.O.B.R.A., departments had never shared any information. They now have real-time access to all county offender data from all departments and mobile units from anywhere in the county.
Spear, along with Chief Theodore (Randy) R. Cole, Kutztown Borough Police Department, Kutztown, PA, and Wyomissing’s Sgt. Robert (Rob) F. Johnson, spearheaded the project. Chief Cole echoed Spear’s sentiments and added that the investigative possibilities for the new county-wide system are where the true power lies. For officers to be able to go back through incidents and check what has already occurred, and who was involved, even if it wasn’t in their township or city, makes the new system a boon for Berks County. The system also provides a quick link to vital statewide warrants, NCIC, JNET and other information. And, as of June, 2004, the original C.O.B.R.A. system has expanded its capabilities to include and embrace data from adjoining counties through an inter-county Justice-Hub.
Cooperation at the Command Post:
From the outset there were challenges, hurdles, roadblocks, objections and questions. How can system and data security be maintained over a wide network? Can we ensure that information from individual departments is not co-mingled into a single database? What about any disparity between records management systems in different departments? How do we connect departments that don’t have an electronic records management system? Will the solution accommodate county-wide growth and expansion? Who’s going to pay for it?
According to Sgt. Johnson, the third member of the team, the biggest initial problem was how to connect all the departments. No department had deep enough pockets to make the connectivity thing work. They knew the vendor (CODY Systems) had the technology to do it. They just had to figure out how the connectivity was going to be accomplished.
Then the county stepped in and created the records server, which provided the necessary connectivity. The end result was a little bit different than the trio had envisioned, but it’s free, and free is good for municipal government. The project was, indeed, burdened with questions from the outset. In fact, the story begins with a question. Berks’ bold trek toward county connectivity got its foothold in the late 1990s when, like other counties across the country, its local law enforcement and government agencies were faced with the dreaded “Y2K problem”— the knowledge that their computers and software were not going to be supported once the calendar turned over to 2000. Several police departments throughout the county initiated system upgrades, which, at the same time presented the opportunity to upgrade their records management systems. It was after one of those departments completed its own system upgrade that the idea of sharing was first proposed. Sgt. Johnson, recalling the moment when the data-sharing idea was born, said that his department was looking at ways to limit some of its costs, and he suggested to his chief that they should see if it was technologically feasible to have a few departments around them work off one of their servers.
With a nod from the chief, he called CODY Systems. The CODY records system (RMS) was already the choice of the majority of the departments throughout the county, including Wyomissing. CODY suggested that it would be great if they could collaborate and create something that the entire county could use. The software engineers at CODY began working with a task force that included representatives of the local police departments, the Berks County Chiefs Association, and Berks County Communications Center.The solution that finally made this networking possible is a unique and highly specialized data-sharing interface called C.O.B.R.A. (center-point based regional access), developed by CODY. The basic concept behind C.O.B.R.A. is data encryption and interoperable, real-time communication over a dedicated wireless link between a center-point and the records management systems at each local department. Ideally, records query communications are made directly from a patrol car through a wireless connection to the county center-point, either through a laptop computer or an MDT. But that connection left a critical sector out of the loop— those departments, especially smaller ones, who did not yet have mobile communications. This was overcome by building a wide area network (WAN) that connects each department to the center-point, Fred Hershey said. Hershey is project manager for the Berks County IT department; included among his responsibilities is serving as liaison between the county, CODY and AT&T in the installation of the appropriate circuitry. According to Hershey, the system is basically a frame relay network with routers on each end that allow communications. The network is protected because it is not a public network, but a direct connection that ensures a great measure of security.
With this solution, each police department, large and small, can maintain its own records database. Self-selected data is automatically encrypted and passed, through the C.O.B.R.A. interface, to the center-point where it is accessible to every other department in the county. Now, any local department can quickly search not only its own files but the center-point files as well. C.O.B.R.A. gives investigators across the county the ability to determine if crimes of similar nature are occurring within the county.
Once the logistics of universal connection were determined, other concerns arose only to be conquered. One such apprehension concerned data security. But C.O.B.R.A. provides secure encryption of highly sensitive police data so it can be safely transmitted over the wireless or wide area network, securing data transmissions to and from the center-point.
Moreover, C.O.B.R.A. has universal data-source translation capabilities and operates independently of other software products in the network. C.O.B.R.A. can communicate with virtually any records management software package available today, and can translate any applicable data-source (JXML, SQL, secured TCP/IP, etc.). While 28 of the 44 departments in the county upgraded to CODY RMS, there was still a variety of records systems being utilized by the other departments. Another early issue was data privacy. Yet individual records are still secure in their respective departments through C.O.B.R.A.. Each department controls which data is passed to the centerpoint, where each department has its own dedicated file space. This means the data is not co-mingled into one file. This was particularly important because of rules spelled out by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office about not co-mmingling data.Sgt. Johnson put it simply when he said, “We own our own records.” It’s the center-point that is queried when you do a C.O.B.R.A. search, not individual departmental records, so departments do not have to give up control overtheir data. Of special concern were the county’s smaller departments whose Y2K upgrades were made simply to desktop PCs without records management software or a private server. To complete the communications loop between all agencies across the county, a solution was needed that would be compatible with the wide variety of technologies employed.
These smaller departments were brought into the network as “satellite” users. Their local PCs were connected to the center-point through special CODY RMS software. This allows them to interface with the center-point as though it was their own server. Their data is stored directly at the centerpoint rather than being passed to it. Now, through the WAN connection, they are able to share their data with other departments throughout the county and, importantly, they are able to perform data searches directly from their desktop PCs.
Today, four years later, Berks County has an interoperable datasharing interface that unifies law enforcement agencies across the county. Access to centralized records is available to every department in the county, enhancing incident and criminal investigations and virtually eliminating investigative redundancy. Yet each department maintains its autonomy and independence.
And while this approach has fostered communication, collaboration and cooperation within the Berks County law enforcement fraternity, its implications are more far reaching. From small-time crooks with more mobility to terror threats and interstate kidnappings, the need for more open, regionalized sharing of data between agencies is clear.
David Noble is a freelance writer. He may be contacted through www.codysystems.com.
For more information on this project and others currently underway by CODY, please contact:
CODY Systems at 610-326-7476 or info@codysystems.com.
Also visit CODY on the web at www.codysystems.com.