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Connecting Resources To Solve Crimes

NCJ Number
216330
Journal
Law Enforcement Technology Volume: 33 Issue: 10 Dated: October 2006 Pages: 94,96,101
Author(s)
Donna Rogers
Date Published
October 2006
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This description of South Carolina's secure information- sharing system, which connects member agencies' records management systems (RMS), addresses planning, system specifications, obstacles to the sharing of information, lessons learned, and the sharing system's future.
Abstract
Originally called the Low Country Information Technology Improvement Project (ITIP), it connects members' RMS by means of redundant, high-speed lines that end at a central data warehouse to which all agencies have access. Each jurisdiction maintains and controls its own RMS, which cannot be modified through the ITIP network. The ITIP began with six participating agencies and is in the process of expanding statewide under the title of the South Carolina Information Exchange (SCIEx). The planning phase was managed by chief executive officers from all contributing agencies acting as a governing body. Each agency appointed an individual to represent the agency on a working group, which handles ongoing daily technical issues. SCIEx is a data warehouse of suspect, victim, and witness information entered by each member agency into its own RMS. Information can be viewed but not altered by other agencies. Recent upgrades enable SCIEx reports to include standard incident data such as incident type, people, property, vehicles, and narratives. Throughout the planning and implementation phases, the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center-Southeast in Charleston, an enterprise of the U.S. Justice Department's National Institute of Justice, provided technical expertise and funding. The next step is to make SCIEx mobile through computer terminals in patrol cars.