Pierce County Wins National Technology Award

Pierce County News has reported in The Suburban Times that Pierce County won a national award for using the latest Web technology to help locate abducted children. The International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) recognized the County’s Lead Management System for a Technology & Innovation Award. Investigators can use the system to quickly search and organize thousands of tips about a child’s possible location. The system is one of the first of its kind to be designed for local government.

Investigators are often inundated with thousands of tips and eyewitness reports when a child is abducted. The Lead Management System allows users to quickly sort these “tips” and find key information which then become “leads.” The system makes it easy for investigators to manage those leads which could best result in a child’s safe recovery. 911 dispatchers can now enter call logs directly into the county’s Information Portal, and investigators can immediately upload eyewitness reports. This saves time and ensures critical information is not lost.

The new system allows reports to be directly entered into the tip log, thereby providing officials with real-time updates on a child’s possible location. Reports can be sorted based on categories such as victim or suspect, and also displayed on a map if a witness provides an address. The Web-based interface is easy to use and can be accessed on a variety of mobile devices.

Pierce County’s Department of Emergency Management and Information Technology Department partnered with the Tacoma Police Department to create the system. The project team also worked closely the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department.