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mcdowellnews.com
Online system helps officers search for suspects, property nationwide
By MCDOWELL NEWS STAFF
October 29, 2011
In an effort to further combat crime, the Marion Police Department and the McDowell County Sheriff's Office are now using LeadsOnline – an investigative system that enables detectives to search for suspects and stolen property across secondhand stores, scrap metal dealers, pawn shops and Internet (eBay) drop-off stores, both locally and nationwide.
The system equips criminal investigators with the ability to instantly solve crimes and to return goods to their rightful owners. Property can be searched using serial numbers, suspect names, item descriptions or other information. Most searches are completed within seconds. Often these property crimes are associated with larger crimes, such as homicides, arson and fraud, according to a LeadsOnline press release.
"This is the largest online investigative system of its kind nationwide," said Marion Police Chief Mark Brooks. "Our investigators are using it to solve crimes ranging from burglaries to homicides to instantly searching for missing items in the transaction records of businesses across the area and the country. We appreciate the support of our local businesses as they work with us to serve our community."
Without LeadsOnline, investigators had to undertake a time-consuming process of visiting all the stores in the area, collecting paper tickets and computer disks and manually filing the tickets into a database. Keeping up with the volume of information was costly and overwhelming, and detectives were limited to searching for stolen property within the city and county. With LeadsOnline, information is automatically collected from businesses each day. Marion and McDowell businesses that accept merchandise from the public are now reporting electronically via LeadsOnline.
"More than 1,800 law enforcement agencies and businesses across the country are using the system to the benefit of countless victims of crime," said David Finley, CEO of LeadsOnline. "We're excited about the opportunity to serve (Marion and McDowell County) and are expecting great results."
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