NEW SOFTWARE, BIG IMPACT


Times photo/Jessi Dreckman Ozark County Sheriff’s Deputy Justin Brown demonstrates the department’s new software, which officers can access from portable laptop/tablet computers from anywhere.

The Ozark County Sheriff’s Department has begun implementing a new software program, Omnigo, which will totally change the playing field, officers say.

“It’s going to, first off, let me know where everyone’s at. So, I can look at the map and say, well, I’ve got one [deputy] down here working in Bakersfield, I’ve got one guy up here working in Gainesville,” Sheriff Cass Martin said. “And, it really just allows us to multi-task. Now, we’ll be able to do our reports as well as being out there and being seen.” 

Ozark County Deputy Justin Brown gave the Times a behind-the-scenes look at the new platform early this week and explained how it will enhance the county’s law enforcement presence. 

 

Connection

One of the biggest attributes of the new system is a level of connection between OCSD employees that hasn’t been seen before. 

The program is installed on deputies’ computers inside the Ozark County Sheriff’s Department, as well as on portable tablets that can be placed inside laptop holders in the officers’ vehicles. The dispatch office also has the program on its computers, allowing a more direct form of communication and integrated work platform for deputies working with dispatchers.

“They can see everything we’re doing, and we can see everything they’re doing,” Brown said. 

“So here’s a call that’s coming in right now,” Brown said as he demonstrated the software from his patrol truck. “This tab shows all the events that are going on in the county right now. So if I saw this call and knew I needed to go to it, I can just click this button to add myself to it. Then the dispatcher and everyone else can see I’m on that.”

The system also features a chat screen, where officers can engage a chat session with a dispatcher or other officer at anytime, allowing them to use the computers to communicate instead of having to use their phones or radios. 

 

Mapping

Another helpful feature of the Omnigo software is a mapping component. 

“I can pull up a map on this screen here that shows everybody that is on duty right now and where they are at. If they have their GPS on in their truck, it shows them on this map.”

Brown says the map also allows a dispatcher to input a specific address or location where an officer needs to respond, and the map will automatically input that final location into the software, so officers can easily see their desired location on the map.

“They just place a pin where it’s at, and we can get there faster, more efficiently,” Brown said.

“For example, they’re doing a prisoner transport now. It shows the prisoner transport vehicle there, tracked by GPS.  And then if you look up here on the map, there’s the red pin that shows you where they’re going. So we can all be on the same page and see what everyone else is doing.”

A new grant that the department will soon receive will advance the technology further so that 911 calls are automatically tracked and mapped as they come in.

“When that’s in place, it’ll be a big help,” Brown said.

 

MULES, reports

The program has tabs that allow officers to input license plate numbers, suspect names and other information, which is then automatically run through the Missouri Uniform Law Enforcement System (MULES) ,  

“Before, we’d have to call dispatch to relay the license plate number, and they’d check, and then let us know what it said,” Brown said. “Now, we can do all that ourselves from the truck. We can input a license number. Then I can add it [the vehicle] to the call. I can add a person’s name, information... Then, let’s say, based on the stop, I’m writing a traffic ticket. I can click this button, and it automatically fills in all the information for me. I choose the charge, and I hit print.”

The ticket prints from a small, portable printer that is installed in each patrol vehicle. 

“So no more handwritten tickets. It’s going to save us some time, and the good thing is, it’s all linked then. So that vehicle, that name, all those things are then stored in the database. So, later, if we look up that car or that person, this incident is listed on the history of it.”

Brown says the system may tell the officer that the driver has an active warrant or that the vehicle is stolen.

“If that’s the case, we’ll have to call dispatch to confirm.  So I’ll call them and say the system is showing a warrant for this person. Can you confirm it? Or this vehicle is showing that it’s stolen. Is that still the case? Then they can say yes or no, and we can go ahead and arrest the person or whatever at that point.”

 

Database of information

All the information from each traffic stop, investigation or other incident is recorded in the software program, and suspects, vehicles, addresses are tagged, linking the information for future use.

“I can sit here and see this call come in on the dispatch log. Then, if I know that this is the location of a burglary I worked three weeks ago, I can go back, reopen it, add stuff to it,” Brown said. “Then I can do an inquiry of a certain person, a piece of property or whatever in our database. And if we’ve put it in here before. You search for it, and it’ll pull it right up.”

Interagency connection

One section of the software “shows our regional data share. We have agreements with all these places where I can look somebody up, and if any of these [jurisdictions] have a file on them in their Omnigo software, I can look up what they’ve got,” Brown said. “So, I can see their reports... or if I’m writing a report on them myself, I can click the name off their database, and it automatically fills in their name, address, pedigree... all those details, so I don’t have to do it myself each time.”

The Ozark County Sheriff’s Department has agreements with Douglas, Howell and Wright Counties Sheriff’s Departments, the West Plains Police Department, Willow Springs Police Department, the State Fire Marshal’s office and other nearby jurisdictions.

“So, at that point, their database is our database, and our database is their database, opening up a huge amount of information to all of us,” he said. “And we can get more [jurisdictions] in here too. They just have to sign an agreement.”

Ozark County Times

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Gainesville, MO 65655

Phone: (417) 679-4641
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