Tickfaw Police First in Parish to Use High-Tech Thinkstream Tool to Fight Crime

Officers Use Info-Sharing Software, Laptop Computers to Nab Suspects

Tickfaw, LA, August 15, 2005 – With less than 800 residents, Tickfaw may be small enough to be called a village, but that hasn't kept the Police Department there from thinking big by being the first municipality in Tangipahoa Parish to join larger Louisiana cities in using high-tech equipment to fight crime.

Thinkstream, Inc. installed software for the Tickfaw Police Department less than two weeks ago that allows officers in the field to access instantly and simultaneously local, state and national databases from laptop computers inside their patrol cars. The technology has already brought the department success – a felony and drug-related arrest and a solved missing person's case – just a few days after police had learned how to use it, Police Chief Jimmy Sparacello said.

"It's only been a couple of weeks and we've already seen more arrests," Sparacello said. "I'm tickled to death about it – Thinkstream has been nothing but good for us," he said.

The proof that the new system is working is with the recent arrests, Sparacello said.

According to Lt. Mike Roach, he and the department's five officers finished training on the Thinkstream system on Wednesday, August 3. The next night, while out on routine patrol, Officer Scott Harrell noticed a vehicle with a broken headlight off of Hwy. 51 near Tickfaw and signaled the man driving to pull over. When the driver of the vehicle said he didn't have a license, the officer asked for his name and entered it into the system on his laptop computer inside his patrol car, Roach said. A "red flag" or warning appeared indicating that the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office had arrest warrants for felony fraud charges, Roach said.

The suspect, 29-year-old Raymond Cote, of Livingston Parish, was initially booked as a fugitive at the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office and was transferred the next day to the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office where he was booked on felony fraud charges.

"Before Thinkstream we may not have been able to get the information at all much less as quickly as we did for an arrest to be made," Sparacello said.

The Thinkstream technology links the Tickfaw Police information database with several other southeastern Louisiana law enforcement agencies allowing officers in the field to share local and state information about a suspect. Not only can officers access information like felony and misdemeanor arrest warrants they can also get sex registrant status, domestic violence background, restraining orders and previous contact with police. The system also allows access to FBI databases and national records, such as the National Criminal Information Computer or NCIC.

The new system, which cost just under $9000 was covered by Federal Department of Homeland Security and State grants. The department is looking at using additional grant monies to upgrade the system so officers can scan information into the computer rather than typing it.

Thinkstream has taken some of the burden off of the Tangipahoa Sheriff's dispatchers who are responsible for handling calls in six of the parish's nine municipalities, Sparacello said. Before the new system, officers would have to radio a dispatcher to check license tags and Ids, and then wait for the dispatcher to check several databases before getting their information. Now officers can enter a license plate number and get a name, criminal history and a picture of the suspect, in a matter of seconds.

"Thinkstream has taken a small town like Tickfaw and moved us into the 21st century – we're loving it," he said.

Thinkstream, a leading software development company based in Baton Rouge, specializes in criminal justice applications that tie agencies together securely giving them the ability to rapidly share critical information across agency and geographic boundaries. The company has linked over 150 agencies in eight regions of the state, including East Baton Rouge Parish, Orleans Parish, Bossier Parish, Lake Charles and Lafayette. The Louisiana network is considered the largest civil and criminal information network in the nation. The company also operates systems in Texas, Florida and California.

Thinkstream CEO Barry Bellue called the software a technological breakthrough that can help save civilians and officers lives, and at the same time put criminals behind bars.

"Now more than ever police officers are making the ultimate sacrifice to protect us. I saw a need for a tool they could depend on for greater security and success in the field," Bellue said.

In addition to keeping officers safe because they can check criminal histories before leaving their cars, the new system saves time, allowing for more productivity in the field, which eventually leads to more arrests, and a safer community, Roach said.

"This is working. It's giving us more information faster than we could in the past," he said.

Just last week Lt. Roach said an officer used the Thinkstream system to run a license plate check of a suspected shoplifter that had fled the scene. "He got information on the spot that the owner of the vehicle was a 49- year-old man reported missing from New Orleans," Roach said.

Although, the owner of the vehicle wasn't arrested, information the man gave police, led to a drug-related arrest later that day of a suspect wanted by the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office, Roach said. The man's mother, who had reported her son missing, was contacted and told of his whereabouts and his name was taken off the national database of missing persons, he said.

"Not only are we able to police Tickfaw but we're able to help police the rest of the state – that's a good feeling," Roach said.

About Thinkstream
Thinkstream, Inc., a leading software development company based in Baton Rouge, specializes in criminal justice applications that tie agencies together securely giving them the ability to rapidly share critical information across organizational, agency and geographic boundaries. The company has linked over 150 agencies in eight regions of the state, making LACCIE the largest civil and criminal information network in the nation. The company also operates systems in Texas, Florida and California.

CEO Barry Bellue, who also founded Fifth Generation Systems, a national top 20 software company acquired by Symantec, established Thinkstream over nine years ago. Mr. Bellue heads a team of engineers with over 60 years combined experience in designing Web-based integrated information networks for businesses and criminal justice agencies across the nation.

Thinkstream, Inc. is an active member of the Internet Working Group for Justice Integration Committee. Established by the U.S. Department of Justice, committee members contribute their knowledge and experience to promote and implement integrated information systems (IJIS) throughout the country.