“In the past if I was an investigator investigating a case and thought there was a linkage to Halton, I would pick the phone up and call my counterpart there for him to check his database and have him fax me the information,” said Marlor.
While this is easy to do with bordering jurisdictions, it becomes another matter when dealing with out-of-province cases. Now, with the proper security measures such as ID, password and tokens, police agencies in Ontario can share information with those in Vancouver, for example.
“Regrettably, we have not been able to query each other’s systems,” said Marlor. “We’ve had a national (Canadian Police Information Centre) system that shows who’s wanted but it doesn’t allow us to check into each other’s databases.”
With the new system in place, not only will officers be able to search other databases, they also will have instantaneous updates on people who are put on probation. In the past, the probation office would send a paper to the local police department, which, in turn, would put that same information into the police computer systems.
“By making a linkage between the two systems, when probation and parole puts it into their system, it automatically links into ours,” said Marlor
MOO.
