Marana, Oro Valley to add COPLINK® software

11/06/03
by Scott Simonson

Marana and Oro Valley police plan to add locally made, nationally used software to their array of crime-fighting tools.

The Marana Town Council on Oct. 7 approved an agreement with the city of Tucson that will help the Marana police use COPLINK® computer software.

The software aims to speed up investigations by sharing and sorting information on cases and suspects from multiple police and sheriff's departments.

"We see it as an invaluable tool for investigators," Marana Police Chief Richard Vidaurri said. "It's going to save a lot of time and money."

Oro Valley also has plans to put COPLINK® to work, said Becky Mendez, spokeswoman for the Oro Valley Police Department.

Marana hopes to have its software online within a few weeks, while Oro Valley has yet to set a timetable, officials from the two departments said.

COPLINK® was developed by Tucson-based Knowledge Computing Corp.

COPLINK® clients include the Tucson and Boston police departments and Montgomery County, Md., where it was used last year to investigate the series of sniper slayings near Washington, D.C.

In Marana, the department plans to use COPLINK® to do jobs in a few seconds that used to require hours.

Police will be able to type a name into a computer, Marana Police Lt. Joe Carrasco said, and pull up a mug shot from another agency. Otherwise, that task might require driving 30 miles or more to the Tucson police or Pima County sheriff's offices, he said.

If a burglary occurs in Marana, police can use COPLINK® to see if it fits the pattern of recent burglaries in Tucson, Carrasco said.

"These bad guys don't just stay in a particular jurisdiction," he said. "It's a database that's cop-friendly."

In Marana, the system will be used at no cost to Marana citizens. COPLINK® will be funded through a recent forfeiture, Vidaurri said.

"We just took some bad guys' money," the chief said, "and are using it to help catch some criminals."