OCSO: Information Technology Unit

This unit is responsible for the establishment, evaluation and maintenance of all computer information systems, security, and software for the Onondaga County Sheriff's Office. Some of their responsibilities include analyzing and defining the computer needs of the Sheriff's Office, coordinating efforts with Onondaga County's Department of Information Technology and vendors for all computerized information systems, and coordinating and providing the computer training needs of all Sheriff's Office employees.

The Sheriff's Information Technology Unit prides itself in providing state-of-the-art law enforcement technology. Following are a few examples:

Wireless Networks: Our 70 marked patrol cars utilize cost-efficient Dell PC's in docking stations. In addition to the standard PC applications, each laptop has wireless networked access from almost any location in the county to each of the following within the patrol car:

911 Dispatch Information

New York, nationwide, and Canadian DMV registration and driver's license data

Warrants

New York Statewide Police Information Network (NYSPIN)

Onondaga County's Criminal History Arrest/Incident Reporting System (CHAIRS)

Email between the patrol car and other patrol cars, police substations, and headquarters

Live-Scan: The Sheriff's Custody Department utilizes computerized "live-scan" fingerprint technology to identify individuals through their fingerprints alone. Within minutes, the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services provides positive I.D. directly from the prints, plus much more accurate arrest and warrant information directly to the Sheriff's Office via electronic means. It utilizes inkless digital fingerprint scanning technology and color digital mug shots.

This system takes all fingerprints, mug shots, signatures, and all arrest information (charges, demographics, etc.) in electronic format and submits them to the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services computer in Albany. This information is shared and accessed by thousands of other police agencies, statewide, and in many cases, worldwide. Every arrest put into this system is searched and added to statewide and federal databases within minutes and is entirely paperless.

Mug shots taken with this system now populate the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services' statewide mug shot database. In addition, there is a portable booking system, which allows the Sheriff's Office to take mug shots, arrest, and demographic information in the field.

Crime View: A Geographic Information System (G.I.S.) is used to track crime on a computer-based pin map. Incidents can be searched by incident type, location, suspect information, and many other criteria. This system is even capable of producing maps displaying the most likely areas for future crime to occur.

Pros D-Cops: This computerized personnel and resource deployment system is used to evaluate the effective placement of police deputies, their patrol areas and shift assignments to enhance service and reduce costs.

VIN-Check Scanner: The Onondaga County Sheriff's Office is the first agency in Central New York to issue these scanners. This integrated scanner reads the bar code directly off of the windshield registration or driver's license through the use of a handheld PDA (Palm Pilot) and, within a second, identifies stolen cars, revoked/suspended driver's licenses and registrations.

TRACs: This new system enables a deputy to issue tickets more efficiently by scanning the driver's license and registration in the patrol car, and then transfer the data to Sheriff's Headquarters, the DMV, and some courts electronically.

Networks: The Sheriff's I.T. Staff routinely maintains networks and systems in 10 different buildings and over 70 patrol cars, 24 hours per day.

The I.T. Unit also oversees two units: CHAIRS and Crime Analysis.

CHAIRS (Criminal History Arrest Incident Reporting System): A deputy ensures the data integrity of the countywide CHAIRS System and provides essential maintenance and upgrades to transaction and translation files.

Crime Analysis: This unit compiles, analyzes and disseminates information of local, state, federal, and international concerns that affect day-to-day safety of the public and deputies. Crime Analysis reports are run from intelligence gathered from numerous sources such as CHAIRS, the Gang Task Force, the internet, the Western Regional Association of Crime and Intelligence Analysts, the New York State Terrorist Alert System, and NYSPIN There is also crime mapping using the Crime View computer program, which pin maps CHAIRS data.

This unit works closely with the Onondaga County Department of Information Technology and we are grateful for their support.