The Orange County Board of Supervisors authorized the Department to join COPLINK, an multi-jurisdictional information sharing consortium first planned four years ago with a grant from the Department of Homeland Security.
The Sheriff’s Department joining the consortium comes after several years of wrangling over legal and technical issues, said Capt. Mike James.
“We’ve put those issues to rest and now we are a full voting member of the Integrated Law & Justice Agency for Orange County,” Capt. James said.
COPLINK is essentially a computer interpretation tool which accepts information from all law enforcement agencies in the county, along with the Superior Court, the District Attorney and the Probation Department. Those agencies use a myriad of computer formats but COPLINK accepts all of the data and allows it to be accessed by agencies with otherwise non-compatible computer formats.
Sheriff’s deputies and investigators will soon have access to information on individuals, crimes and events gathered by court and law enforcement sources throughout the county. Bob McDonell, executive director of Integrated Law & Justice Agency for Orange County said the system is currently undergoing an upgrade that will enhance the service provided to law enforcement.
Department personnel using the system will be able to access information from the Los Angeles Police Department, San Diego County, and a growing number of agencies around the state and the nation. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is expected to join the system soon, said McDonell, who retired as the Newport Beach Police Chief before joining the agency as Executive Director. It vastly expands the number of data bases available to deputies on patrol, investigators and those classifying inmates in the jails. “Now when there is a traffic stop a suspicious vehicle, you can find out not more than the driver’s traffic and criminal record,” Capt. James said. “You can find out if the person was a witness to a crime, a victim of a crime and who they hang out with.”
The system also allows investigators to feed information about a crime and learn about similar elements in crimes committed elsewhere. In March 2004, Orange County agencies secured a DHS grant through the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) program. The UASI Grant recipients in the County - Santa Ana and Anaheim - applied for the grant to enhance the goals of improved homeland security efforts in the region, which included information sharing among County law enforcement and justice agencies as one of its primary goals for the purpose of thwarting crime and terrorism.
A multi-jurisdictional consortium known as the Integrated Law and Justice (ILJ) Project was already in place, and under the guidance of Deloitte Consulting, had just completed developing a “requirements definition” for an information sharing project in preparation for a formal bid process to identify a solution. To learn more about COPLINK, check this out: 042408 Orange County CA Case Study.pdf (1.60 mb)
The Board of Supervisors also ratified the Memorandum of Understanding between the Naval Criminal Investigative Service for the Sheriff's Department to participate in the Southern California Law Enforcement Information Exchange (SoCal LInX).
To see the Board of Supervisors staff reports on both agenda items click here:
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Agenda Item
AGENDA STAFF REPORT ASR Control 08-001154 |
| MEETING DATE: |
05/20/08 |
| legal entity taking action: |
Board of Supervisors |
| board of supervisors district(s): |
All Districts |
| SUBMITTING Agency/Department: |
Sheriff-Coroner (Approved) |
| Department contact person(s): |
Executive Director Rick Dostal (714) 647-1803 |
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Captain Michael James (714) 834-6450 |
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Subject: Amended Integrated Law & Justice Agency Joint Powers Agrmt.
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ceo Concur
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County Counsel Review |
Clerk of the Board |
| Concur |
Approved Agreement(s) and Resolution(s) |
Discussion |
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3 Votes Board Majority |
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| Budgeted: Yes |
Current Year Cost: $132,670 |
Annual Cost: $271,630 |
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| Staffing Impact: No |
# of Positions: |
Sole Source: N/A |
| Current Fiscal Year Revenue: N/A |
| Funding Source: GF: 55%, Law Enforcement Contract Partners: 45% |
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| Prior Board Action: 2/6/07, COPLINK Participation - Probation & District Attorney |
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RECOMMENDED ACTION(S) Adopt Resolution to:
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1.
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Approve and authorize execution of the Amended Joint Powers Agreement for Integrated Law & Justice Agency for Orange County (ILJAOC). |
| 2. |
Approve termination of the Supplemental Agreement Regarding COPLINK Services and Indemnification Obligations between the County of Orange and the ILJAOC upon the effective date of the Amended Joint Powers Agreement for the ILJAOC. |
| 3. |
Authorize the Sheriff-Coroner, District Attorney and Chief Probation Officer to execute, on behalf of their agencies and the County of Orange, the COPLINK System Use Policy Agreement as amended March 28, 2008. |
| 4. |
Upon execution of the Amended Joint Powers Agreement for the ILJAOC, authorize the Auditor-Controller to pay the sum of $82,870 to ILJAOC for the County's full participation in the ILJAOC for Fiscal Year 2007-2008. |
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Upon ILJAOC notification of the approved budget for the ILJAOC for each fiscal year, and the proportionate share of costs for the County of Orange and its agencies and contract cities, direct the County Executive Officer to include said costs as part of the total fiscal year budget for the County of Orange as submitted annually to the Board for approval. |
SUMMARY: The Sheriff-Coroner requests approval of the Amended Joint Powers Agreement for Integrated Law & Justice Agency for Orange County, the COPLINK System Use Policy Agreement as amended and termination of the Supplemental Agreement with the Integrated Law & Justice Agency for Orange County (ILJAOC), to permit the County to fully participate in the ILJAOC. BACKGROUND INFORMATION: The Integrated Law & Justice Agency for Orange County (ILJAOC) was formed in 2006 to facilitate the integration and sharing of criminal justice information/data. The members of the ILJAOC, a joint powers agency, include all Orange County cities; the Superior Court; the University of California at Irvine (UCI) Police Department; and the County. At the time the ILJAOC was formed, the County criminal justice agencies consisting of the Sheriff-Coroner Department, the Probation Department, the Office of the District Attorney and the Public Defender, plus the County Executive Office, attended meetings of the ILJAOC as non-voting members. COPLINK is one of several initiatives that are under ILJAOC management. Different criminal justice agencies maintain disparate data sources. The COPLINK system, developed by Knowledge Computing, receives, sorts, consolidates, indexes and stores data from those disparate data sources. COPLINK allows criminal justice agencies to find associations and spatial relationships between suspects and associates, and their crimes. COPLINK can sort crime patterns and affiliations, and link them for immediate analysis, enhancing officer and public safety. Other services under ILJAOC management include the Electronic Subpoena Program, In Time Electronic Scheduling Program and the E Filing Initiative which will allow all criminal justice agencies to file cases and citations electronically. On February 6, 2007, the Board authorized the Probation Department and the District Attorney to begin participating in COPLINK and to become paying members of the ILJAOC. It is now proposed that the Sheriff-Coroner Department also begin participating in COPLINK, and that the County's criminal justice agencies - Sheriff-Coroner Department, District Attorney, Probation Department and Public Defender - become voting members of the ILJAOC through the execution of the following agreements: (1) Amended Joint Powers Agreement for Integrated Law & Justice Agency for Orange County: This amendment to the agreement adds the County as a member agency and the Sheriff, District Attorney, Chief Probation Officer, Public Defender and County Executive Officer or their designees as voting members and sets forth their financial responsibilities. This agreement supersedes the Supplemental Agreement with the ILJAOC, which will be terminated as part of this Board action. (2) COPLINK System Use Policy Agreement as amended March 28, 2008: Participation in COPLINK requires execution of a System Use Policy Agreement (User Agreement). This agreement outlines the conditions under which participating agencies will share and release information through COPLINK. The Sheriff's Department and the Probation Department will file their updates with COPLINK electronically through a secure Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection among those two agencies, the Orange County Data Center and Knowledge Computing through the Santa Ana Police Department. The connection was created and developed in connection with CEO/IT and the security team at the Orange County Data Center. Currently the system contains all of the historical data from the Computer Aided Dispatch, Records Management, and related Mainframe systems from the Sheriff’s Department and the adult probationer mug shots from Probation. On a daily basis, the two departments will make electronic updates to the historical data as they are required and add the new data elements from the day's transactions. The recommended actions include authorization for the County to pay $82,870 to the ILJAOC for the Sheriff-Coroner Department's use of ILJAOC services during the current fiscal year. The total ongoing annual cost for the County to participate in the ILJAOC is $271,630. FINANCIAL IMPACT: The costs are included in the FY 2007-08 budgets for the Sheriff-Coroner, District Attorney and Probation Department, and have been requested in the proposed FY 2008-09 budgets for each Department. STAFFING IMPACT: N/A REVIEWING AGENCIES: Probation Department, District Attorney, Public Defender, CEO Office of Information Technology EXHIBIT(S): Supplemental Agreement with ILJAOC ATTACHMENT(S): Attachment A: Amended Joint Powers Agreement for ILJAOC
Attachment B: Amended COPLINK System Use Policy Agreement
Attachment C: Resolution
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Agenda Item
AGENDA STAFF REPORT ASR Control 08-001155 |
| MEETING DATE: |
05/20/08 |
| legal entity taking action: |
Board of Supervisors |
| board of supervisors district(s): |
All Districts |
| SUBMITTING Agency/Department: |
Sheriff-Coroner (Approved) |
| Department contact person(s): |
Executive Director Rick Dostal (714) 647-1803 |
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Captain Michael James (714) 834-6450 |
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Subject: Ratify MOU for Participation in SoCal LInX
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ceo Concur
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County Counsel Review |
Clerk of the Board |
| Concur |
Approved Agreement to Form |
Consent Calendar |
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3 Votes Board Majority |
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| Budgeted: N/A |
Current Year Cost: N/A |
Annual Cost: N/A |
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| Staffing Impact: No |
# of Positions: |
Sole Source: N/A |
| Current Fiscal Year Revenue: N/A |
| Funding Source: N/A |
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| Prior Board Action: N/A |
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RECOMMENDED ACTION(S) Ratify the Sheriff-Coroner's execution, on behalf of the County of Orange, of the Memorandum of Understanding with Naval Criminal Investigative Service for participation in the Southern California Law Enforcement Information Exchange (SoCal LInX). SUMMARY: The Sheriff-Coroner requests that the Board ratify the execution of the Memorandum of Understanding with Naval Criminal Investigative Service for the Sheriff's Department to participate in the Southern California Law Enforcement Information Exchange (SoCal LInX). BACKGROUND INFORMATION: According to the 9-11 Commission Report, inadequate information-sharing among law enforcement agencies was one of the greatest failures of government leading up to the 9-11 terrorist attacks. The Law Enforcement Information Exchange (LInX), developed by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, addresses this problem. LInX is an information-sharing model that has been successfully deployed in numerous regions across the country . LInX is a regional warehouse of law enforcement records databases, which significantly improves the sharing of information among participating agencies including identifying and locating criminals, terrorists and their supporters; identifying, assessing and responding to criminal and terrorist risks and threats; and generally preventing, detecting and prosecuting criminal and terrorist activities. LInX combines records from multiple law enforcement agencies and makes them available to all participating agencies, providing each with a single source for regional law enforcement information. The information is secure, and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service can remove any agency who misuses the system. The Southern California Law Enforcement Information Exchange (SoCal LInX) is currently made up of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the counties of Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura. The Memorandum of Understanding among the participants sets forth the requirements of all the participants and describes the procedures for operation of SoCal LInX. The MOU also provides for the creation of a SoCal LInX Governance Board made up of the head (or designee) of each participating agency. The participants will comply with the policies and procedures developed by the Governance Board. Each participating agency bears its own costs in relation to the operation of LInX; however, there is no additional cost to participate in LInX. At the request of the other agencies participating in LInX, the Sheriff-Coroner executed the Memorandum of Understanding in order to begin sharing information immediately pending ratification by the Board of Supervisors. FINANCIAL IMPACT: N/A STAFFING IMPACT: N/A EXHIBIT(S): Memorandum of Understanding