Visual Alert 2 and ALERT® Server
take information sharing to a new level
Tapping the genius of the statewide LEJIS system
Metro’s exclusive Advanced Information Sharing solutions enable police officers to search farther and faster than ever before to find relevant information that will aid an investigation or close a case. The reason is LEJIS, the secure, statewide Law Enforcement Justice Information System.
Metro has pioneered the next generation of Records Management Systems by building LEJIS into its industry-leading RMS, Visual Alert 2. The next generation of network servers will debut in December, when Metro introduces ALERT Server, the first and only collaboration tool for counties, task forces and groups that taps the genius of LEJIS.
LEJIS is a national model for information sharing that is transforming the way law enforcement agencies access local, county, state, and federal records. Metro’s exclusive Advanced Information Sharing solutions take LEJIS to a new level by providing full police reports and tools for regional crime mapping, sophisticated crime analysis and data interrogation.
Visual Alert 2: The solution for individual departments
Available now! With Visual Alert 2 as your RMS, your department gets real-time access to local, county, state and federal public safety records through LEJIS and other licensed and authorized information sharing networks. You get direct access, right from your RMS – no county or group sponsored silo or network server needed. You choose what information to share, and VA2 takes it from there. Enhanced LEJIS capabilities are built in, including the ability to prioritize results so that the most meaningful information is presented first, reducing the need to sort through inquiry results. The ability to request even more detailed follow-up information directly from another agency will be included as part of the next VA2 LEJIS upgrade.
With information sharing built right in, Visual Alert 2 redefines the standard for modern Police Records Management Systems. Metro provides information in the VA2 RMS by adding two powerful new built-in program features. First, VA2/AGILE (Visual Alert 2 Approved Generator of Information for Law Enforcement) tags any information approved for sharing by the department's records authority in real time. Second, VA2/RISS (Visual Alert 2 Resource for Information Sharing Systems) queues up for, and accepts information from, licensed and authorized information sharing partners. VA2/RISS pushes approved information through the department's firewall. Your data is never pulled out of your database and sent outside of your VA2 RMS without your approval!
The Advanced Information Sharing capabilities built into Visual Alert 2 connect any department to law enforcement information sharing sites at the local, county, state and federal level.
ALERT® Server: The solution for counties, task forces and groups
Available in December! With the addition of an ALERT Server, every department in your collaborating group gets real-time access to local, state and federal public safety records through LEJIS and several other interfaces. Participating departments also can access one another's full incident reports and, through LEJIS, can request more detailed reports from departments outside the group. ALERT Server has full interoperability with every RMS that follows government standards for sharing data. ALERT Server also has the highest level of data security in the industry because each participating department chooses what information to share, and when.
What police want most from information sharing
Police assume that today’s information sharing systems will share data in real time, enable access from any RMS and comply with industry standards. Above and beyond the basics, they want:
1. Relevant information from other law enforcement agencies at the local, county, state and federal level to help them do their work
2. Total control over the information their department chooses to share (or withhold) within their own unique RMS environment according to their own operational policies
3. Tight security for their own data and a secure network for sharing data useful to others
Metro’s Advanced Information Sharing solutions are uniquely aligned with the qualities police want most from information sharing. Metro’s solutions also offer the most useful features, the most efficient functionality and the lowest price.
How Metro ensures relevance, control and security
A core design element in both LEJIS and ALERT® Server ensures relevant data, total control and tight security in a way that other commercial information sharing systems don’t. Instead of pulling data from a police department’s RMS, the ALERT® Server requires departments to push only the data they want to share.
Pulling data has inherent problems
• Pulling reaches behind the department’s firewall, bypassing the parameters and controls that the department depends on its RMS to protect.
• Pulling reduces relevance by including reams of data that is insignificant to other departments, such as “service” calls.
• Pulling reduces control by end-running department policies on private or sensitive matters as well as rules regarding dissemination of information.
• Pulling reduces security by giving away high level access privileges to your database and increases work by requiring departments to manage data at two locations.
Pushing data benefits all participants
• LEJIS, and the U.S. Department of Justice data exchange standard on which it is based, make individual agencies responsible for pushing out sharable data.
• Pushing ensures relevance by letting groups decide for themselves what categories of data they want to share. Only allowable data leaves the department.
• Pushing ensures control by making individual departments responsible for sharing or withholding reports in accordance with their internal policies and procedures.
• Pushing ensures security by maintaining the privacy, integrity, stability and administrative access control over the department’s database.
Metro supports sharing as a cooperative venture
Information sharing in a county, task force or group is a cooperative venture among participating organizations. Typically, the participants include not only law enforcement agencies but their RMS vendors. For sharing to be sustainable, all must be cooperating partners in the process.
If someone suggests that one or more participants be left out of the process, be sure to ask why. The answer is likely to be that, it will be easier, cheaper and quicker; like one-stop-shopping. The truth is that it won’t be sustainable.
The incongruities among RMS systems must be resolved in advance, through full cooperation by all. Any shortcut is likely to involve accessing or modifying another organization’s server, software or database – a practice that risks system breakdown every time there is a change or update to the system.
Safe, secure data interchange models require all vendors to follow government standards for sharing data. This is the way ALERT® Server – using the LEJIS standard for information sharing – offers full interoperability with every RMS employing this standard.
See how Advanced Information Sharing can serve your department or group.
Ask for a demonstration.
Metro Technology Services, Inc.
610-296-7450 local
800-658-5716 toll-free
metalert@metroalert.com
