By Scott M. Bruner
Police1 Product Editor
CODY Systems C.O.B.R.A. has, for over ten years, been a tool for hundreds of local and state law enforcement agencies and thousands of officers nationwide, providing them with with real-time information sharing – now; they’ll be providing information at the federal level. This month, CODY Systems announced that information from its C.O.B.R.A. systems in New Jersey is available in the FBI’s National Data Exchange (N-DEx) database, through CODY’s interface to the New Jersey DEx (NJ-DEx) system.
“This provides a wider scope of data for both the State of New Jersey and the FBI with info from the smallest agency connected to C.O.B.R.A.,” David Heffner, vice president of CODY Systems, said. “Information from local jurisdictions is often the key to stopping a major crime or terrorist attack. That’s why we are excited that local information from C.O.B.R.A. is available at the state level, regardless of RMS vendor, and now, is also available at the federal level.”
CODY Systems’ C.O.B.R.A. is a suite of applications designed to not only provide a system to translate and link information from different agencies and jurisdictions (called ExpressBridge™), but also to provide critical information to officers in the field in real-time. It works with different RMS vendors and it allows agencies to search data across networks, regardless of individual jurisdictions and vendors.
The new interface for C.O.B.R.A. allows data to be gathered and sent upstream, to the New Jersey Data Exchange (NJ-DEx). From there, NJ-DEx sends the data to N-DEx. C.O.B.R.A. works with GJXDM/NIEM. The NJ-DEx interface is one implementation of this capability.
Currently, any agency using C.O.B.R.A. in New Jersey that enters information into its local RMS database, has that information (according to the agency’s sharing rules) made available to search for other C.O.B.R.A. operators within seconds – providing critical information to officers in the field. Now, with this interface, key information is sent upstream to NJ-DEx as well. From there, NJ-DEx sends it to N-DEx.
The data that C.O.B.R.A. collects includes information on persons, vehicles, locations, incidents, and officer safety alerts from any agency connected to the network. C.O.B.R.A. can also search the NCIC/SCIC if the agency has purchased the option.
With this new capability, new data entered at the local level is made available to NJ-DEx within seconds. NJ-DEx then sends it to the national database, providing the federal level with information from the largest to the smallest agency.
“The root of C.O.B.R.A. has always been and will always be officer and citizen safety,” CODY Systems’ CEO Fran Heffner said. “We have hundreds of agencies nationwide using our technology. This technology protects thousands of officers in the field by arming them with up-to-the-second cross-agency information on the people, places, vehicles, etc. they confront on a daily basis. Now, with this interface, much like similar interfaces we have in other states, we are happy to know that the information collected through our C.O.B.R.A. system in New Jersey is accessible to other officers and agencies across the United States.”
A wholly owned and privately held company, CODY Systems specializes in integrated data management solutions and interoperable cross-platform information-sharing for First Preventers. Visit them on the web at www.codysystems.com.