City of San Antonio Selects i2 for Fusion Center Implementation
The City of San Antonio has awarded i2, the leading provider of intelligence and investigation software, a contract to deliver and implement COPLINK to facilitate information sharing between all participating justice and law enforcement agencies in the Southwest Texas Regional Fusion Center (SWTRFC), as well as with neighboring fusion centers in Houston, Austin, El Paso and Dallas. As part of the largest law enforcement information sharing initiative in Texas, SWTRFC joins more than 50 percent of fusion centers across the U.S. that rely on i2 to help prevent and disrupt terrorist and criminal activity.
The most widely deployed tactical lead generation tool in the U.S., COPLINK enhances information sharing within and between local, regional, tribal, state and federal law enforcement agencies, in accordance with each agency's sharing priorities, policies and applicable laws. Statewide deployments include Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Florida and Missouri.
"Cooperation and communication between law enforcement personnel in different agencies are now the rule, rather than the exception," said San Antonio Police Chief William McManus. "On a regional and statewide scale, COPLINK will help us reveal similar crime patterns and identify suspects that span multiple jurisdictions in a way that will make use of all existing data housed in multiple databases."
"With so much existing criminal data at the local level, cities like San Antonio are taking the lead in creating an environment where that information can be shared easily and cost effectively," said Robert Griffin, i2 CEO. "And once COPLINK is deployed, San Antonio can easily connect with other jurisdictions across the country, which further removes borders and silos in the process."
Under terms of the contract, i2 will provide SWTRFC with the following COPLINK components:
- Adaptive Analytical Architecture – Enables information sharing with other COPLINK nodes deployed in fusion centers and regional, statewide and national information sharing databases.
- Intel L.E.A.D. -- Extends COPLINK criminal history information management capabilities with the ability to enter and manage intelligence information in compliance with privacy mandates 28 CFR part 23. Authorized users will be able to simultaneously search and access law enforcement and intelligence data to see all available information.
Agencies participating in SWTRFC include the San Antonio Police Department, San Antonio Fire Department, City of San Antonio Office of Emergency Management, Bexar County Sheriff's Office, Laredo Police Department, Corpus Christi Police Department and Valero Energy Corporation. SWTRFC will be built in a manner that exceeds applicable state and federal regulations regarding privacy. The first phase of SWTRFC will go live in November 2010.
Fusion centers such as SWTRFC were created following the 9/11 attacks as a joint effort between the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security to ensure and facilitate collaboration and information sharing between local agencies, across state lines, and between the state and federal levels, with a particular emphasis on preventing and responding to terrorist and criminal activities. Though many of the country's fusion centers have developed independently and remain different in size and scope, their missions are the same, and i2's solutions enable an across-the-board consistency and unprecedented information sharing capability.