FBI, area law enforcement join for collaboration summit
Jun. 16—CLARKSBURG — Law enforcement is collaborative work.
The FBI Criminal Justice Information Services held its first Information Sharing Summit Wednesday, where law enforcement from around the state gathered at the Clarksburg FBI center to learn about the services the federal government can offer to local law enforcement agencies.
"[Law enforcement] is all about communication and it's not just one-way communication, it's really that two-way. At the FBI, we know that we do things well, but we know we can always be better," Special Agent-in-Charge of the FBI'S Pittsburgh Division Mike Nordwall said. "We need that two-way flow of information from our surrounding counties and cities to really do that."
The event was held in conjunction with the the Pittsburgh FBI Field Office, which oversees operations in West Virginia.
Partnerships between an area's law enforcement and the private sector are key to a smooth flow and making sure those breaking the law are brought to justice, he said.
Nordwall recognizes that every community is different, and the FBI offers a wide range of tools for local law enforcement to use to meet the needs of their communities.
CJIS Assistant Director Mike Christman said the Clarksburg center is trying to help the local police, whether they be city, county or state, take advantage of every available resource.
If these services are considered tools, the Clarksburg CJIS office is the manufacturer.
Clarksburg's FBI center is where these products and services are developed, housed, tested and distributed. These services include facial recognition, iris scanning, fingerprint databases, background check registries, firearm checks and many more services that are used by law enforcement around the country originate in Clarksburg.
All of which were on display Wednesday for guests to peruse and learn about from the people who created the tools in some cases.
"If you're from West Virginia, the fact that all these things came from Clarksburg, that's something to be proud of," Christman said. "We collaborate each and every day. At CJIS, we develop law enforcement information sharing tools and that certainly can't happen in a vacuum."
As Nordwall said, this collaboration is a two-way street. Law enforcement using these services allows the tools to be fine-tuned and curated to the needs of the region.
But Wednesday's summit was about more than just showing off tools, it was about relationship building across the state and up and down the ladder of police work.
"Heaven forbid something happened here like we saw outside of Buffalo recently, we have those relationships in place so the folks on the front lines know who to call and we can bring the resources needed to help our partners," Nordwall said. "A lot of innovation happens right here in West Virginia to help our partners and up do what we do every day."
Police in Marion County often work with the FBI and two officers from the Fairmont Police Department were at Wednesday's summit. Fairmont Police Chief Steve Shine is a member of the region's anti-terrorism task force and said that the FBI's collaborative partnership is a big part of what he and his officers do.
"We use various FBI resources for lab logistics and special processing, and we like to keep in contact with them on a regular basis to make sure we're doing information sharing and aiding in each other's successes," Shine said. "They like for us to handle things on the local level but are happy to aid us when we need it."
Reach David Kirk at 304-367-2522 or by email at dkirk@timeswv.com.
