Pre-9/11, when Julian Allen and Harrison County, Miss. Sheriff George Payne scrawled down onto a piece of paper a proposal for a public safety information sharing system, they had no idea that inter-agency data swapping would later become a national goal.

"We went to two senators with the idea that we need[ed] to start sharing information," said Allen, Director of the Mississippi Automated System Project (ASP).  "This was before September 11th.  We did not realize at that time that what we put on paper [would become] the core of [the Department of] Homeland Security's [mission]."

Since the formation of the Department of Homeland Security in 2002, there has been an increased emphasis on information sharing among federal, state and local agencies.  To get the data-sharing process started in Mississippi, the state looked to the federal government, which provided it with the funding it needed to get the ASP off the ground.

When it's completed, the ASP will link law enforcement and emergency response agencies in three coastal Mississippi counties - Harrison, Jackson and Hancock - and become a model for other states, Mississippi hopes.

"This is truly a beneficial project, not only for us, but something that is setting a template for a national project," said Allen, who is also Director of Training and Special Programs for the Harrison County Sheriff's Department.  "Certainly [Mississippi's project] is becoming extremely successful and there's no need to keep reinventing the wheel."

The first phase of the ASP, which was finished in February 2004, linked the management systems of the three county jails, enabling them to share records back and forth.  Just last month, the second phase of the ASP began with the goal of integrating records so they will be electronically available to fire and law enforcement dispatchers.  The final phase, slated for completion in October 2004, will provide public safety professionals with laptops in their vehicles to have instant access to a broad range of information when they are in the field.

"Sharing information [and giving] end-users more information at their fingertips makes them more effective and more efficient," Allen said.  "It saves manpower.  It's a force enhancement."

Dependable Technology

The project is fueled by IBM technology, with all of the agencies' data stored in a centralized datacenter network, which consists of an IBM eServer iSeries 825 and two eServer xSeries 445 systems.  There are two identical datacenters, one located along the Mississippi coast and one 60 miles inland, to ensure that the system is reliable.  If one datacenter is damaged, the other will compensate for it so the agencies can still retrieve information.

"If one of theses servers was to go down, the other server would take over [and] you wouldn't experience any loss if information," said Jay Bretzmann, Director IBM eServer xSeries.

Being able to depend on the system hardware is vital to a project like this, Bretzmann said. 

"When you think about it, this is one of the applications where reliability has got to be one of the highest requirements in the equation," Bretzmann said.  "You've got first responders out in the field [who] need information [and are] trying to make snap decisions so you can't afford to have something go down."

It was precisely for this reason that Mississippi chose IBM as its technology provider for the project.

"IBM has such a [good] track record with their hardware," Allen said.  "They're kind of like the 'energizer bunny'--IBMs just keep on running."

With IBM's servers in place, a variety of public safety agencies in Harrison, Jackson and Hancock counties will be able access each other's information, including mug shots, arrest warrants and criminal intelligence.  But another key player has climbed on board with the ASP to share its information, too: the Mississippi Department of Corrections.

Cooperation from Corrections

According to Allen, he recently received a letter from Corrections Commissioner Christopher Epps expressing the department's willingness to join other state agencies in and make its data available through the newly established network.

"I understand the importance of working together to make our communities and state safer," Epps said.  "Sharing data across boundaries is a means to enhance our public safety, which is key to furthering our mission as an agency."

While data from MDOC can help agencies to identify individuals who have been incarcerated when they encounter them in the field, this information exchange can also help corrections keep a closer eye on the offenders who fall under its umbrella.

"This system assists us in our effort to find offenders in violation of probation or parole.  It also assists us in our decisions related to classification and parole.  It sends out a red flag on previously convicted felons participating in unlawful activities," Epps said.  "Additionally, we will have access to information that may prevent or hinder possible threats to a peaceful society."

Adding corrections to the ASP equation can only serve to help the other agencies who are trying to improve their efficiency and promote public safety, Allen said.

"Think about what's in the database in a corrections department.  The history on everyone who has been locked up in the state of Mississippi is sitting in there," Allen said.  "That's information that local law enforcement could use to solve who knows what kind of crime."

But, information from a corrections department or sheriff's office or fire department alone does not benefit public safety the same way combining data from all law enforcement and first-responding agencies can.  That's the message the Department of Homeland Security is trying to get out and it's the underlying purpose of projects like the ASP, which officials in Mississippi would like to see as the framework for a national information sharing network.

"We don't even know the potential of these databases until [we] start putting them together," he added.  "We're very pleased as seeing state agencies that are stepping forward and realizing that all this data is nice to have, but it isn't worth flip if nobody's sharing it."

Resources:

For more information about the ASP, contact Julian Allen at (228) 865-4595

To contact IBM, call Chris Rubsamen at (914) 766-4728

To contact the MDOC, call Suzanne Singletary at (601) 359-5608