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	The Ypsilanti Courier A Heritage Newspaper Weekly Publication

New tools for fighting crime

Ypsi second city to be using new technology

By Kathleen Conat, Special Writer

PUBLISHED: December 21, 2006

The Ypsilanti Police Department has joined with all county law enforcement departments in changing over to the CLEMIS information reporting and sharing system on their computers.

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According to Lt. Mark Angott, systems Administrator of the YPD, the department received a grant from the federal government for the changeover.

CLEMIS, or the Courts and Law Enforcement Management Information System, is a unit of Oakland County's Department of Information Technology and is currently used by approximately 90 police departments in the state. Information from all these departments is shared through the system in order to track criminals faster and more effectively.

Saline was the first city to get the program up and running. Ypsilanti is the second to be already using the new technology.

Angott said the Ypsilanti department used to use CLEMIS before switching over to the Emergitech in the 1980s. In the 1990s, the department started using the New World system. Angott said the decision to go back to CLEMIS was made because every other department in the county was making the change. It was cheaper than what was being used.

The system will also use NetRMS for records management. Angott said all departments will also have CAD capabilities, which has not always been the case in the past. YPD uses the Printrak system.

In addition, the system uses PictureLink, a photo imaging system specially developed for law enforcement agencies. This system allows the computer to perform facial recognition searches. It also will take demographic information, such as a suspect's height, weight and physical description and perform searches to put together a photo lineup.

"The big thing is that all this information is shared," said Angott. "Officers can get the information through their mobile computers in their cars, too."

CLEMIS also has a mapping feature, which Angott sees as more important for the county deputies and Ann Arbor police than Ypsilanti, "although it will help new officers learn the territory." It also has an automatic vehicle locator, letting dispatchers know where patrol cars are in relation to reported crimes.

"This will allow dispatchers to send patrol officers out more efficiently, saving us time in getting to the scene."

With the entire county coming on board, Angott foresees a better coordination of law enforcement efforts between departments. "Criminals don't respect government boundaries, so this will help us all work together to get them off the streets."

Kathleen Conat is a long-time Ypsilanti resident and freelance writer for the Courier. She can be reached through editor@ypsilanticourier.com.