Monroe PD uses registration data to spot suspect’s vehicle
MONROE, WI – The Monroe Police Department used software from Spillman Technologies to help track and capture Oscar Saul Olmos-Morfin. The suspect was arrested May 22, after officers did a routine vehicle registration check with Spillman software.
“You just can’t appreciate the value of a system like this until something like this type of incident happens,” said Monroe Police Chief Fred Kelley.
On May 19, agents from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) came to the Monroe Police Department asking for assistance in locating Olmos-Morfin. The suspect, wanted by ICE for residing in the country illegally, was thought to have family in the area.
Lt. Mark Rohloff of the Monroe Police Department searched the agency’s Spillman public safety system, which contains data from law enforcement agencies across Green County. He found that Olmos-Morfin had received a citation from the Brodhead Police Department listing a Monroe address.
Lt. Rohloff entered a photo of Olmos-Morfin given to him by ICE agents into the Spillman system. He attached that photo to Olmos-Morfin’s name record and updated his wanted status and last known vehicle. This would allow the Spillman software to alert any officer when searching for Olmos-Morfin’s name or vehicle.
On May 22, Monroe Police Department Cpl. Noah Vig checked a vehicle registration in the Spillman system and found that the vehicle was the same one flagged as belonging to Olmos-Morfin. A short time later, the vehicle was stopped and the driver was compared to the photo of Olmos-Morfin that had been entered in the system. Olmos-Morfin was captured just three days after the department was contacted by ICE.
Kelley credits the capture not only to the good work of his officers, but also to the county-wide data system. In 2006, the Spillman software was purchased by the city of Monroe and Green County, as well as most of the local municipalities. The software is being adopted by several other county fire and EMS agencies in the next year.
Kelley said the system has already improved response times and allowed for information sharing and better data management. He credits the Monroe City Council and Green County for being willing to invest in the system.
“This is one of the few counties in the state that has one data system for everything; police, fire and EMS,” Kelley said. “We are the envy of many other counties.”
Spillman Technologies provides a full range of integrated software solutions for public safety agencies, including Records Management, Computer-Aided Dispatch, Mobile Communications, Corrections Management, Fire/EMS Management, Resource Management, and Data Sharing. The software is installed at more than 700 agencies nationwide.