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West
Trenton, N.J. – What do you get when
you put New Jersey’s top law enforcement
leaders and national intelligence experts
in the Northeast’s premier fusion
center to talk about priorities? Essentially,
you get the roadmap to fighting crime more
effectively in tough economic times.
Attorney
General Paula Dow presided over this important
meeting at the New Jersey Regional Operations
Intelligence Center (ROIC, pronounced rock)
where more than 100 law enforcement executives
from all around the state came to look for
answers to today’s problems. At the
top of the list is how to effectively protect
the citizenry with shrinking local budgets.
The Attorney General touted an expanded
law enforcement toolbox of intelligence
products that help burdened police departments
deploy resources more efficiently.
“Gathering
and sharing intelligence on crimes is not
a luxury. It’s a necessity,”
Attorney General Dow said. “We have
to be firmly interconnected like never before.
In this tight economic climate, we have
to rise above the jurisdictional boundaries
in ways that only intelligence sharing can
facilitate,” Dow added.
Mark
Marshall, president of the International
Association of Chiefs of Police also addressed
the law enforcement community to promote
the advantages of agency interconnection.
The IACP has an international membership
of approximately 22,000 police departments
across the country and the world. “Our
ability to share information is mission-critical.
We are required to do it smarter and faster
with fewer resources. Fusion centers modeled
after the ROIC offer that one-stop-shop
that will reduce crime in our local communities,
and at the same time, push information forward
to help thwart the next terrorist plot.”
“The
intelligence products coming out of the
ROIC are offered at no cost to our law enforcement
partners, but they have proven their value
by making possible the arrests of violent
criminals, gun traffickers, and drug dealers.
More importantly, they have increased officer
safety and prevented crimes,” said
Colonel Rick Fuentes, Superintendent of
the New Jersey State Police. “Intelligence
sharing is a proven way to overcome jurisdictional
barriers. It helps us to move as a united
front against every threat on public safety,”
Fuentes added.
Professional
analysts and law enforcement officers from
more than 15 different agencies including
the FBI, ATF, DEA, US Marshall’s,
Homeland Security, and state and county
partners work from one large room to put
out intelligence products in a truly collaborative
environment that defines New Jersey’s
fusion center. Products include crime mapping
with predictive analysis to help local departments
know when and where crimes are likely to
occur in the future.
Some
fusion center products are generated for
a specific problem in one city or area.
There are reports identifying recidivist
gun possessors who are at large in cities
including Camden and Newark. Other regular
reports track and analyze pedestrian fatal
crashes, outline daily threats to public
safety for the state, and assess the spread
of crime from major cities to surrounding
towns.
The
Watch Operations room at the ROIC is always
staffed by troopers and professionals from
other agencies who provide ready access
to intelligence information, and myriad
forms of assistance to any law enforcement
group. This instantly translates to better
decisions by commanders for resource deployment,
and even by officers on road stops who may
be dealing with dangerous subjects.
ROIC
analysis products also assist existing partnerships
such as the DEA’s Violent Enterprise
Source Targeting, or VEST program. VEST
meetings pull together law enforcement agencies
working in and around particular cities
to plan coordinated crime fighting operations.
Through these relationships, partner agencies
share intelligence and maximize their efforts
without wasting resources.
“The
goal of today’s meeting is to lay
out the strategy to move law enforcement
forward, even though many police budgets
are moving in reverse,” said Attorney
General Dow. “As more New Jersey agencies
take advantage of our existing intelligence
tools, and then add their own information,
those systems become our common strength.
This unity is the only way to prosecute
the battle against crime in 2011.”
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