Police department joins regional info-sharing effort
TOWN OF ULSTER, N.Y. » The Town Board has approved the Ulster Police Department’s participation with the Hudson Valley Crime Analysis Center, which facilitates the sharing of information between agencies throughout the area.
Town Police Chief Kyle Berardi told the board recently that the center provides information that includes details about routine investigations.
“It’s a shared resource where you dump all police data ... into the same data bank, and then you can request information,” Berardi said.
“They do the computer meat and potatoes for you,” the chief said. “It allows investigators to work the streets and follow up on leads while there’s crime techs down in the center working on all the data.”
The center was established last year with the help of the state Division of Criminal Justice Services.
“We’re getting resources from Orange and Dutchess just by sending one request to one central location,” Berardi said.
“Even before this formal agreement, we sent ... requests,” Berardi said. “They have information we don’t have access to for facial recognition and stuff like that. We send a quick email, [and] they’ll work on that for you with no financial obligation.”
Berardi said the system is of particular interest to agencies that need information about criminal activities that might cross county lines.
“As we’ve seen over the years, the criminals know no boundaries,” he said.
“Say we’re working on a robbery, [and] we can’t identify the suspect,” Berardi said. “Come to find out the suspect is out of Orange County, he’s a Newburgh resident. Well, we don’t have a picture of him because we’ve never dealt with him, but if we send that into the Crime Analysis Center, a detective from Newburgh or Orange County might have ... an open case relative to that. So now this links all police departments together through one central location.”
Berardi said the frequency of use varies depending on the type of activity being investigated.
“Every couple of weeks, depending on ... the type of cases we’re working on,” he said.