TUCSON, AZ- July1, 2008 --- Knowledge Computing Corporation, with the award winning COPLINK® Solution Suite, is successfully providing LEXS/NIEM compliance for their law enforcement and public safety clients nationwide.
Knowledge Computing Corp. assisted in the development of the original NIEM-based interface between the Automated Regional Justice Information System (ARJIS - San Diego's Regional Law Enforcement Consortium) and the FBI. In addition, the Director of Engineering for Knowledge Computing Corporation was on the LEXS3.1 SR Requirements Committee. Now, the company is enabling two-way, NIEM-based interfaces for COPLINK clients quickly and easily. COPLINK users such as ARJIS and the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department (LASD) now use this standard to create NIEM-based interfaces, with many other agencies expected soon to follow.
"We are excited to extend the level of interoperability available between COPLINK users to include OneDOJ and DHS," commented Knowledge Computing Corporation Director of Engineering, Bill Oliver. He added, "Participating on the LEXS Requirements Committee was an ideal opportunity to ensure that COPLINK is an integral part of national data sharing now and in the future. By being involved in its development, we are able to provide an unparalleled level of data sharing between the many COPLINK-enabled agencies as well as provide fulfillment of presidential information-sharing mandates for our clients."
In the wake of 9/11, national law enforcement underwent a wide range of restructuring in response to less than adequate information sharing options. The President responded to this problem by initiating the Information Sharing Environment (ISE), mandated by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. Now, law enforcement and public safety communities are duty-bound to move from a "need to know" to a "need to share" culture. To assist with the change, NIEM was created as a joint partnership between the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and is intended to facilitate information sharing between local, tribal, state, and federal law enforcement agencies.
With NIEM, a standard common computer language is used, Global Justice XML Data Model (GJXDM), to describe entities like people, places or things. Those agencies using COPLINK are already capable of sharing this data with one another and can now seamlessly integrate NIEM standards into their data systems without the need to alter any existing system.
COPLINK multi-jurisdictional information sharing does not require NEIM compliance. However, compliance is required for participation in information sharing projects including: OneDOJ (formerly R-DEx), which is a data repository managed by DOJ, and with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) database, which is a part of DHS. These projects provide limited search and receive capabilities to participants based on supported data types and interagency agreements. COPLINK users are able to search OneDOJ and ICE databases - and vice versa - within the scope of these agreements.
Besides being the first partner with a fully functional R-DEx interface (ARJIS), COPLINK has a validated export mechanism in LASD sending incident data to the National Data Exchange, also known as N-DEx, a database managed by the FBI. Currently, N-DEx standards do not allow third party queries of data. Because COPLINK capabilities regarding these information sharing projects respond to these types of standards, jurisdictions feeding N-DEx, OneDOJ and ICE through COPLINK, are insulated from changes that may require system alterations.
Access to COPLINK on a local, regional or federal level is restricted by individual user security clearances and by the sensitivity of the data itself, both of which are based on strict policy protocols spelled out in a Memorandum of Understanding between participating agencies. COPLINK also creates a detailed audit trail for every search conducted. These safeguards help protect the integrity of the data and sensitive information while allowing for the creation of ad hoc regional task forces to address specific criminal activity.
The COPLINK Solution Suite is able to rapidly identify possible criminal suspects, relationships, and patterns by searching known or partial facts from an investigation. Leads that would otherwise be unapparent appear in seconds - a process that prior to COPLINK was not possible or often took days or weeks to accomplish. The Solution works by allowing vast quantities of structured and seemingly unrelated data - including data currently housed in various incompatible databases and records management systems - to be securely organized, consolidated and rapidly analyzed over a highly secure intranet-based platform. COPLINK is already linking counties, regions and states, making if far more difficult for criminals, gangs and terrorists to operate across multiple jurisdictions undetected.
