INNOVATION
ORCA DATA-SHARING
Technology in Action Can Lead to Powerful Results By Jacques Brittain, LPC
W
e have often heard it said that information is power. But in real terms, that idea is largely incomplete. The fact is, with most of us having access to millions of pieces of information literally at our fingertips with the touch of a button or the swipe of a thumb, information is only power if you can effectively use it and constructively act with it. Knowledge is power. We must be able to sort through all the information at our disposal, process what it is and the value it holds, manage the best and most effective ways that information can be useful for us, and then apply what we’ve learned to achieve our objectives. It is vital that we connect the dots and do so in a way that others can understand and follow to bring investigations to their successful conclusion.
This is why data-sharing programs have become so essential to organized retail crime investigations. In response to the alarming rise of organized retail crime, retailers have teamed up with law enforcement agencies to launch secure data-sharing programs as an integral part of the various organized retail crime associations (ORCAs) across the country. This allows these agencies to work in concert to report, monitor, and investigate all forms of organized retail crime using a secure, private platform to protect the integrity of the investigation. These databases provide a proactive tool that uses a secure web interface for data entry, incident alerts, viewing files as part of ongoing investigations, and ongoing incident queries. Information related to organized retail crime and related criminal investigations is entered into these databases,
