Use Case for Limestone County Sherrif's Department

The Limestone County Sheriff’s Department is a small, rural department with a small budget and a large amount of transient traffic.  A lot of the county is changing from a vast, primarily agricultural community to a bedroom community.  This change is partly attributed to the BRAC.  The county is also seeing an increase in targeted crime areas, motor vehicle incidents, and an increase in drug cases.  The Narcotics Unit has used the Virtual Alabama system on almost every warrant they’ve served since the release of the Virtual Alabama program to government agencies.  Having building footprints available and an ability to plan a safe search has provided safety to the general public on adjacent properties, the law enforcement individual, etc.

Due to the availability of parcel data in the system, there have been at least 3 occasions that dispatch has identified a bad address provided by a caller or complainant (where an error was made in parcel data or original 911 addressing).  These errors may occur because of cul-de-sacs expanding into thoroughfares for subdivisions.  With this update in information, the parcel data then shows the officer the scene and parcel information before arriving at the wrong house.  In cases of violent type calls (someone barricaded in the house or armed), if the officer has the numerical address, the dispatcher is able to warn the deputy that the person in question is across the street.  So, instead of the officer going to wrong address (potentially with his back to the assailant), he is alerted to this change and on 3 instances in the past year, this system has been a lifesaver. 

The population of Limestone County is growing, but the Sheriff’s Department is understaffed.  The county would not otherwise have been able to afford a system like Virtual Alabama based on general fund appropriations.  The data and the system, particularly with the constant upgrades that are furnished are invaluable.   

Virtual Alabama is widely used, particularly by communications personnel – it is used frequently – the department can count on a deputy requesting information from the system probably 7 days a week.  These deputies may be on a road where 5 houses are numbered and the next 10 are not, so by looking at footprint and parcel data, the dispatcher can give a description of the house the deputy is looking for (i.e., single story, two story, mobile home, etc.).

There are a vast amount of extraditions performed by this sheriff’s office in and outside of the county.  The data within the Virtual Alabama system provides the ability to send an officer out by themselves and for example, if they’re traveling to Wetumpka, there is information on Elmore County available for routing, etc. 

The Limestone County Sheriff’s Department is just now beginning to explore the use of radials and radiances to pinpoint offenders under the sex offender registry.  This is useful because of scale mapping and determining distances from child care facilities or places that are restricted in distance for these offenders.  The information available helps determine what allowable residences are for these type offenders, as well as for notifying the public, by law, about these offenders.

Another important aspect of the program involves the layers for first responders.  Limestone County is host to the third largest nuclear power plant in the world.  There are specific plans in place to respond to the plant as well as to alert the public for public safety reasons.  Some people may not be familiar with the county or know the location of the rural fire departments, utility lines (transmission and receptacle) around the nuclear power plant, or even where the evacuation areas are, so Virtual Alabama is used for this as well.

There is great flexibility with this system.  The system provides good training about the critical infrastructure that some people from this area don’t event know about.  The Virtual Alabama program provides for a great melding relationship with all of public service.  The system is not stagnant, canned, or old.  Data is refreshed as it comes in and the push of updates and notification to the users is better than the norm for any other type of software.  Updates are done in a timely manner and the information provided (i.e., clearing cache, etc.) is very useful.  Paul hopes that the above experiences within the counties throughout the state are the driving force behind more continuous updates.  He also hopes that the excitement over the system dictates progress within the system. 

Paul Cain has been in law enforcement for over 30 years and Virtual Alabama is the most useful system he’s seen.  The program available to the user being web-based makes for an incredible product.  Small counties like his cannot afford technology that can be extended throughout other areas of the county, so Virtual Alabama has been wonderful.  In fact, school resource officers are able to use Virtual Alabama from their office at school.  This in turn affords the entire school better protection.  With the ability to combine the resources of live Doppler radar and the mapping of Virtual Alabama, they are better able to anticipate whether schools need to close early, routing information, as well as the needs associated with the critical infrastructure sites. 

It has taken almost a year for Paul to start a challenge within his communications department (this has been a pet project for Paul).  There are two communications officers per shift in the department and they now have a challenge in place between the two teams whereby each team demonstrates what they can do with the different layers provided within the system.  The other team will then provide ways in which they can utilize Virtual Alabama.  This challenge has not only become a self-training tool, but also creates an environment where the communications officers are less afraid to explore the possibilities within Virtual Alabama.  They are no longer afraid of breaking the system and therefore, use the system more.  They train each other in the process. 

Paul’s organization is thankful for this product and it has become a tremendous tool for them to use.  They are happy to answer anyone’s questions about their use of the system, or tours to see the department in action using Virtual Alabama.  They are proud of the system. 

On a personal note, one of the most frequent uses for Paul of the system is when he escorts the Athens HS Band to all their away performances and competitions.  These trips include area high school stadiums and a bowl trip every two years out of state (for example, Orlando and Dallas).  In lieu of recent tour bus tragedies, like Atlanta, Paul takes care of all routing and holds a drivers’ briefing before departures (He leads the convoy so the drivers have a “spot” vehicle to follow).  Without exception, Paul has downloaded images for the drivers before all the trips (aerial photos of parking areas at specific stadiums, approaches, or dangerous intersections).  Virtual Alabama has been an invaluable tool for planning and route selection, and continues to provide a familiarity and recognition for drivers that may be strangers to specific routes and locations.