Data-Sharing System for Homeland Security Draws Raves

    June 30, 2005
    Mississippi's automated system said to have solved many of the communications challenges faced in 9/11

    Source Sun Herald, The (Biloxi, MS) (KRT) via NewsEdge Corporation

    GULFPORT -- An information-sharing network developed in South Mississippi has "huge significance" for homeland security and will be a national model, Edwin L. Worthington said Friday.

    Worthington, state homeland security director, was referring to the Mississippi Automated System Project, a data-sharing and records-management system initially developed for first-responders in Harrison, Hancock and Jackson counties.

    The expanded network so impressed the U.S. Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Assistance that the Bureau asked local authorities to explain how it works in a symposium Friday at Casino Magic Bay St. Louis. The symposium drew more than 200 officials from other counties, Louisiana, Alabama and Tennessee.

    "A lot of criticism came after Sept. 11 of how information from the intelligence community, the FBI and CIA, wasn't being shared," said Worthington.

    "This network was developed before the terrorist attacks, yet it is hugely significant in how we overcome the obstacles of sharing information, and this is true in every state."

    Worthington and Tammy Shelton of the Bureau of Justice Assistance encouraged symposium participants to apply for federal funds to join the network.

    MASP, a $25 million project, has received $15 million in federal funds to develop the program for 13 local law enforcement agencies and 15 fire departments.

    The network gives first-responders in rural areas access to technology for solving crimes and saving lives, said Julian Allen, who oversees the project at the Office of Public Safety Technology at University of Southern Mississippi in Long Beach.

    Public Service Commissioner Rusty Fortenberry and Harrison County Sheriff George H. Payne Jr. were among those who spoke at the symposium.

    "We're making history here in Mississippi," said Payne.