TUPPER: A New Tool in Police Arsenals
Borough of Munhall, Pennsylvania
Crime knows no boundaries, but police forces do a situation that lawbreakers regularly exploit by moving from jurisdiction to jurisdiction to escape authorities. Several police departments in the Pittsburgh area, however, are using one of the most basic tools of the information age e-mail to fight back.
In 1995, the Borough of Munhall Police Department and six other municipal police forces in the South Hills area around Pittsburgh came together to establish a common computer network. Using TIIAP funds, the project, known as the Technology Utilization Pilot Project for Enhancing Resources (TUPPER), had three basic goals: to enable the roughly 230 officers in the various departments to communicate by e-mail; to compile a single database detailing all the contacts the various departments had with various individuals; and to create a central mug-shot library that could be used to identify criminal suspects.
Faster Communication Solves Crimes Faster
That may not sound revolutionary. Private companies have been using computers for e-mail and data collection for years. But it was a big step for the police forces. "Law enforcement is 30 years behind the business community when it comes to technology," says Darrel Parker, Chief of the Munhall Police Department.
Before adopting the TUPPER system, Parker says, most police departments in South Hills used pink "While You Were Out" message slips to notify officers of missed telephone calls. Because an officer in another department could work any of three shifts with an unpredictable pattern of days off, the simple task of communicating with a colleague in another department could take days of frustrating telephone tag.
Crime investigations were stymied in other ways, too. Many crimes are solved through informal information-sharing. Two police officers meeting for a cup of coffee may discover that they both have been dealing with a particular individual. One officer may have a long history of experience with somebody who has just showed up in the other's jurisdiction. Or, both policemen may discover correlations between seemingly unrelated incidents that could help solve some crimes. Often, for instance, a rash of car thefts in one area may relate to a series of break-ins elsewhere, as burglars often steal cars so that they can travel to areas away from their homes to avoid detection.
Important as such coffee klatches are, they have become increasingly difficult to arrange because of tight schedules and increased workloads. TUPPER allows such information-sharing on a much quicker and more comprehensive basis. Using software called The Informer, the TUPPER project has helped participating police forces create a "master name index" that includes dossiers describing any contacts they have had with particular individuals. The files, which are updated routinely as new information becomes available, provide useful background information. They even allow officers to add "special instructions" that can prove very helpful such as whether an individual is known to carry a gun.
According to Chief Parker, the TUPPER system has advantages over existing crime databases. The National Crime Information Center, for instance, details the criminal record of felons. But unlike TUPPER, it requires officers to know the exact name, date of birth, or Social Security number of their target. TUPPER, on the other hand, works even if officers only know a suspect's alias or have partial information.
Technology Aids Law Enforcement
An incident in Clairton, one of the participating municipalities, shows another advantage of the TUPPER system. One Saturday night in early 1997, a 14-month old sitting in a car was killed in the crossfire of a suspected gang battle. A witness identified the assailant. When police turned to Pennsylvania's state crime office, the Bureau of Criminal Identification (BCI), they were told that the network staff could not duplicate a mug shot for them until their office opened the following Monday. Because the suspect had a history of run-ins with police in nearby South Hills, however, the TUPPER system already had an electronic mug shot.
"Within an hour, the suspect's picture was in the hands of 300 police," Chief Parker says, reporting that the probable assailant was soon apprehended. "He had nowhere to hide."
TUPPER has attracted the attention of other members of the law enforcement community. The original seven participating departments have grown to 13. A state parole officer is now connected to the network. On occasion, police in some neighboring jurisdictions have asked participating agencies to search the database for information. And 11 other police departments have asked to come on board.
Darrel Parker
Chief of Police
(412) 464-7300
105021.2661@compuserve.com
Source: U.S. Department of Commerce
National Telecommunications and Information Administration
Office of Telecommunications and Information Applications
Last Modified: 18 Dec 97