Watch the video

KC-Area Police To Share Crime Information
COPLINK Program Gives Police More Access To Details

July 22, 2008
KMBC-TV 9 Kansas City

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Several law enforcement agencies from the Kansas City area are teaming up for a project that will allow them to share crime information easier and break cases.

They'll be using the COPLINK computer program. It was designed by a Tucson, Ariz., company to give departments more access to details about crimes in other communities so they can try to link suspects faster.

The police departments in both Kansas City, Mo., and Kansas City, Kan., will be part of the project, along with 11 other area police and sheriff's departments.

The 13 agencies participating in the project are:
Jackson County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department
Johnson County, Kan. Sheriff’s Department
Kansas City, Kan. Police Department
Kansas City, Mo. Police Department
Lawrence, Kan., Police Department
Leavenworth, Kan., Police Department
Leawood, Kan., Police Department
Lenexa, Kan., Police Department
North Kansas City, Mo., Police Department
Olathe, Kan., Police Department
Overland Park, Kan., Police Department
Prairie Village, Kan., Police Department
Shawnee, Kan., Police Department

"It is a tremendous robust system that will allow us to fight crime on a level that has never happened here before," Overland Park Police Chief John Douglass said.

"Intelligence information, data collection is the most important part of our actually tracking and finding what our specific problems might be," Kansas City Police Chief James Corwin said.

KMBC's Peggy Breit reported that the details of a crime are what could help solve a case more quickly. For example, Shy Bland, who was convicted of a rape in Westport in the 1980s, was later linked by DNA to 12 other rapes. One similarity among all the victims was that their attacker had strong body odor. Police said that is the kind of description that will be entered into COPLINK.

Police called the system an investigator on steroids. One analysis said COPLINK improves productivity 12-1.

The system is already operational in 1,600 American jurisdictions. The Kansas City project is expected to running by Jan. 1.

COPLINK is estimated to cost $1 million for the first year, some of which is coming from police agencies and some from grants.