NCJ Number
207678
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 71 Issue: 9 Dated: September 2004 Pages: 27-30
Editor(s)
Charles E. Higginbotham
Date Published
September 2004
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article describes the development and implementation of the Technology Utilization Pilot Project for Enhancing Resources or TUPPER project; a shared information system among police departments in Pennsylvania.
Abstract
Established in 1996, the TUPPER (Technology Utilization Pilot Project for Enhancing Resources) project was originally a wide-area private communications network implemented in Pennsylvania to share field contact information between and among seven departments. Today, the project consists of a consortium of 27 police departments spanning 3 counties and more than 125 square miles in southwest Pennsylvania. The intent is to improve communication between and among officers in the region’s police departments. To best serve department needs, an e-mail system was implemented as the messaging vehicle to provide messaging to all officers in the member departments. The e-mail system has a centralized machine acting as the hub server that coordinates the distribution of e-mail. The implementation of the e-mail system has benefited crime fighting. In addition, the system maintains the Centralized Mug Shot Library (CMSL) and the Super Master Name Index (SMNI). In addition, in 2002, the TUPPER project provided a single connection point to the National Crime Information Center (NCIC). This single connection provided a significant cost savings to those member departments. There are positive benefits of the e-mail exchange of information which improve an officer’s efficiency. TUPPER, a continuously evolving project, is viewed as simplistic and a technology easily transferable to other departments and agencies.