Next month, Vancouver police will begin using the city of Portland’s new regional law enforcement database, gaining access to millions of crime records across 40 agencies in Oregon and Washington.
“Our criminals do not respect jurisdictional boundaries,” Vancouver police Assistant Chief Chris Sutter said Monday. “Having that ability to interface and share real-time reporting data between the agencies really is going to help our efforts to solve crimes and keep the community safer.”
The city of Portland is paying for the development of the new system, which goes live April 14. Under an agreement the Vancouver City Council on Monday authorized the city manager to sign, Vancouver will pay $139,080 a year toward ongoing maintenance and operations for Portland’s database. That breaks down to $61 a month for each of the Vancouver Police Department’s 190 sworn officers.
The new software, called the Regional Justice Information System, stores crime data and criminal case files and can interface with property and evidence departments. Police expect the system will provide better data for crime analysis and case management, Sutter said.