MDOC and Pegasus Join Forces for
Unprecedented Law Enforcement Information Sharing
Jackson - Mississippi Department of
Corrections (MDOC) Commissioner Christopher B. Epps today
announced an unprecedented collaboration in Mississippi
law enforcement. MDOC has joined forces with multiple
law enforcement agencies using the nationally touted
Pegasus Program. The primary function of Pegasus is
to integrate criminal information databases to provide law
enforcement officers with real time automated
information. Mississippi law enforcement is taking a
key leadership role in Pegasus, with approximately 34
agencies currently participating including 13 police
departments and 21 sheriffs’ offices.
“Understanding the importance of
working together to make communities safer, MDOC has
joined with other law enforcement agencies to provide
access to records and photographs of more than 21,037 MDOC
inmates as well as over 30,254 offenders who are serving
under community supervision,” said Dr. Lee Colwell,
President and CEO of Pegasus Research Foundation. “Having
access to all of this information electronically will save
time and effort for Mississippi law enforcement officers,
and for the MDOC, by minimizing phone calls and delays
inherent in traditional information exchange.”
For first responders, information
that can save lives, speed arrests and ensure public
safety is paramount to a comprehensive approach in
services. MDOC Commissioner Chris Epps said, “Now
law enforcement agencies such as the smallest current
user, Pelahatchie Police Department, to the larger current
user, Jackson Police Department, have access to each piece
of information needed to make informed decisions so they
no longer have to place dozens of calls to check on
suspects or inmate records in surrounding
counties. Each agency sharing information only makes
the entire system work more efficiently, thus serving
public safety. This seamless information exchange
will provide for timely, critical information.”
The MDOC is the first state
department of corrections participating in the nationwide
Pegasus Program that is including offenders incarcerated
as well as those serving their time in the
community. By making offender data available through
Pegasus, the MDOC can now electronically share information
with multiple law enforcement agencies without time
delays.
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