New computerized system for sharing information among 31 police agencies

Santa Clara County sheriff's deputies arrest a man for breaking into a home and stealing laptops, cell phones and other electronic equipment. While searching the suspect's home, deputies find loads of other electronic equipment stashed in a spare bedroom, but they can't link the property to any unsolved cases in the county.

What the deputies didn't know is that two weeks ago that property had been reported stolen during a robbery spree in an adjacent county. Those cases went largely unsolved, until now.

The Coplink program, an integrated information sharing system, has connected 31 law enforcement agencies in Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito counties, allowing them to consolidate thousands of records into one large database and access it easily from the field, according to Sgt. Rick Sung, a sheriff's department spokesman.

"A lot of times, people from out of county will come in and commit crimes," Sung said. "That's part of the reason why Coplink will be a great tool for law enforcement agencies."

The information that is being shared includes open and closed case documents, investigative reports, criminal event data, criminal history and incarceration information, and identifying information about individual offenders.

The $2.86 million project was established in the Bay Area at the request of the Northern California Regional Terrorism Threat Assessment Center in partnership with the Bay Area Urban Area Security Initiative and paid for largely through state and federal grant money, according to the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office.

The South Bay system, or "node" as it is being called by law enforcement, is being managed by the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office. The South Bay Coplink program went into effect on June 21; today, several police chiefs and county sheriffs are meeting in Morgan Hill to discuss strategies and long-term planning for the system.

There are other Coplink nodes in San Mateo and Contra Costa counties. Eventually, law enforcement agencies throughout California will be connected through Coplink.

http://www.mercurynews.com/crime-courts/ci_16680446