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Tarpon Springs police to share data with Pinellas Sheriff's Office

 
Published May 21, 2015

TARPON SPRINGS — The city's police department is moving forward with a plan to integrate crime information and 911 calls with the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.

"It's so important as we move forward for agencies to share data," Chief Robert Kochen said at a recent meeting. "That's the key. To be your own island anymore is really not conducive to what we do."

City commissioners unanimously approved using $257,452 toward the upgrades, scheduled to be completed by Sept. 30.

Among the biggest changes the agency will undergo is sharing call information with operators at the county's 911 center on Ulmerton Road. Currently, Tarpon Springs residents who call 911 for police help would be connected to an operator, who would transfer their call to the Tarpon Springs police department. That results in residents having to explain their reason for calling twice.

Under the new plan, the hope is that 911 operators can speak to the caller while transmitting details to Tarpon dispatchers, who can then contact officers to head to the scene, potentially reducing response times.

"The bad guys don't know the jurisdictional lines and they cross between those jurisdictions," said Pinellas Sheriff Bob Gualtieri. "This is a big deal and I think that it's fantastic that we've been able to reach this agreement."

Tarpon Springs will also be joining several other cities who contract for dispatch services with the Sheriff's Office, including Gulfport, Treasure Island, Indian Shores, Kenneth City, Belleair, and Pinellas County schools.

Some of the other changes include:

• Instead of manually entering reports, officers will be able to call in their information to specialists who type and process the data for them. "It takes a workload off our records division," Kochen said. The department files more than 5,000 reports every year. This upgrade, costing about $25,000 a year, will be funded separately through the police department's budget.

• The agencies can share crime reports and other data in a system that is also accessed by several other Pinellas departments, including Clearwater police and the State Attorney's Office.

• Tarpon Springs police will be linked to the county's GPS system, allowing its officers to see other law enforcement vehicles on a map.

"It's a big benefit because we could see deputies. They could see us," Kochen said. "We could see every officer in the county."

Contact Laura C. Morel at lmorel@tampabay.com or follow @lauracmorel.