A dispatcher relays a burglary suspect’s name to officers in the field. It sounds familiar to an investigator, who asks the dispatcher to do a criminal history search for prior arrests.
The dispatcher’s computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system interface includes a form to search state CJIS and NCIC systems. Up pops a long list of priors, including multiple burglaries and breaking and entering convictions.
Simple enough, and easy for the dispatcher to get information to the investigator quickly. What’s not simple is what you don’t see. In the background, the Hexagon CAD system is integrated with ConnectCIC, a search engine that is up to date with different protocols for state CJIS access in 48 U.S. states and CPIC in Canada.
Behind the scenes
CommSys, the maker of ConnectCIC, has invested more than 30 years in the CJIS environment and has installed the system more than 800 times, serving 1,000-plus agencies and more than 50,000 users.
While HxGN OnCall Dispatch, Hexagon’s industry-leading CAD system, is doing the out-front job, ConnectCIC is “really more behind the scenes,” said Valeria Ferrell, vice president for product management and marketing for CommSys.
“One of the biggest benefits that most of our partners acknowledge is that (ConnectCIC) dramatically reduces their development time when they move into a new state,” or when a state makes changes to its CJIS access system. “We can insulate them from making wholesale changes to the interface.”
Hexagon first partnered with CommSys in 2012 on a project in Arizona. Some years later, Hexagon determined building a CommSys adapter into HxGN OnCall Dispatch, which released in late 2019, would increase customer efficiencies, reduce effort and reduce overall cost for supporting CJIS transactions from Hexagon products.
State specific
Since then, OnCall products include a standard connection to CommSys’ ConnectCIC and CommSys handles all state-specific formatting.
What does that mean to the dispatcher and the officers and investigators seeking criminal background checks? It means they don’t notice when there is a change in state CJIS access protocols and there’s no need for new software or service costs. Instead of downtime for reprogramming, customers’ CJIS queries work like they always do, with no waiting.
To learn more about Hexagon’s public safety solutions, visit hxgnpublicsafety.com
