Removing Communication Roadblocks

• NCJ Number: 218284
• Date Published: January 2007
• Length: 3 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2005-MU-MU-K077
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Report (Technical)

Annotation

This paper briefly describes the South Carolina Information Exchange (SCIEx) and the South Carolina State Interoperability System; cooperative statewide initiatives aiding in the removal of communication roadblocks and facilitating information sharing.

Abstract

The South Carolina Information Exchange (SCIEx) (a statewide data-sharing operation) is run by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) developed Law Enforcement Automated Data Repository (LEADR) software. The software is free of licensing fees. Today, approximately 300 agencies across the State are eligible to use SCIEx and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Department Intelligence Fusion Center has added a mapping component that expands SCIEx capabilities to include crime analysis. Built on the existing Palmetto 800 radio network system, the South Carolina State Interoperability System presently encompasses 69 tower sites, with at lease 1 conventional repeater in each of 46 counties, making it the largest shared public safety radio system in the Nation with more than 21,000 system users representing more than 350 different agencies. The inability to communicate with other departments plagues law enforcement and other public safety agencies nationwide. However, the State of South Carolina is working to dissolve this isolation with two cooperative statewide initiatives, the SCIEx and the South Carolina State Interoperability System. The National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC), Southeast, a program of the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs' National Institute of Justice (NIJ) has a vested interest in both initiatives.