Sypherlink Inc., a data-integration-software and NIEM conformance provider, recently announced work is underway to create the central data sharing hub to support the Dallas County Secure Data Exchange (DC-DEx), a program designed to improve court processing procedures county-wide and serve as the foundation for law enforcement data sharing across the county’s 26 cities. 

Sypherlink was awarded the project, along with contracting partner CIBER, Inc., and is providing the National Information Sharing Model (NIEM)-conformant data standardization via its NIEM Harmonizer Hub product.  NIEM Harmonizer Hub will enable DC-DEx to share data and become interoperable with other leading information sharing efforts. 

According to Sypherlink CEO James Paat, Dallas County is among the first local jurisdictions in the nation to put the FBI’s Law Enforcement National Data Exchange (N-DEx) Program standards to work to simultaneously support both regional information-sharing, and submission to the FBI, as part of the same project. 

“DC-DEx reflects the implementation approach recommended by both the FBI and US Department of Justice for law enforcement information sharing,” said Paat. “It also capitalizes on one of the key strengths of the NIEM program –the reusability of NIEM-based exchange standards.”

“Sypherlink is a critical component to helping us architect this important information sharing program,” said DC-DEx program manager Bill Brown. “With a unique focus on integrated justice data sharing and deep expertise helping agencies and their vendors to quickly comply with NIEM, we’re confident their expertise will enable our success.”

According to Paat, DC-DEx will not require individual agencies to replace or alter their existing records or court management applications. Instead, it will enable them to feed their data to a NIEM-conformant layer that will standardize the data before feeding a central information hub.

“Dallas County got it right when they planned for DC-DEx,” said Bruce Kelling, chair of The IJIS Institute’s N-DEx Advisory Committee. “They’ve designed a program that overcomes the major issues that often hamstring other data sharing programs and that will ensure its ongoing success.”

 “Different agencies use different IT systems which have each followed their own technology path to get to where they are today,” Kelling continued. “Bringing the pieces together in a cohesive manner demands a common or standard approach. The NIEM data model answers this demand and provides the vehicle by which information can be easily exchanged in and between existing systems.”

According to Brown, DC-DEx is funded by a federal Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) and will enable the county to share data and become interoperable with other leading information sharing efforts, including:

• FBI N-DEx;
• The National Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) Initiative; and
• Regional and state fusion centers.
  

Brown continued to say that one of the first objectives of DC-DEx will be to improve court processing procedures county-wide by integrating critical law enforcement data, including incident, arrest, offense, and case filing information from regional law enforcement agencies into a single data warehouse. “This will enable agencies to submit offender data electronically, thereby reducing time and effort required to submit booking and case information to the County,” he said.

According to Ron Stretcher, Dallas County Criminal Justice Director, “Individual agencies – and the community as a whole – will see the immediate benefit of streamlined court processing of cases to save time, money, resources, and the longer-term benefit of improved public safety across our County.  And since it is built on national standards, the solution –and its benefits—can be extended to any jurisdiction in the nation.”

SOURCE: Sypherlink Builds NIEM-Conformant Data Sharing Hub for Dallas County