Law enforcers in Niagara County will now be able to tap into a statewide network that, for years, has helped police agencies in Buffalo and Rochester acquire critical information.
The Niagara Crime Analysis Center, based in Niagara Falls, is a partnership involving the city, Niagara County and New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS). Officials touring the new center on Monday included Michael Green, executive deputy commissioner of the DCJS.
He explained to WBFO that the center will give local police investigators, working alongside trained analysts, access to information from other agencies including some databases that previously were unavailable to them online, including parole and probation departments.
"Instead of picking up the phone and getting the right person, they can instantly access that information," Green said.
Similar centers were previously opened in Buffalo and Rochester. Niagara Falls' center becomes the sixth in a network that also includes locations in Onondaga, Broome and Albany Counties. The network is also linked to agencies in Westchester County, Green explained, giving police access to information downstate. A seventh center is scheduled to open in Franklin County later this year, serving five counties in New York's North Country.
"If you think of the impact this can have, if you're doing an investigation whether it's homeland security, dealing with people coming across the border, whether it's a homicide investigation, getting information instantly versus getting it a day or two days or a week later could save lives and protect the public," Green said.
