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Click here for the Winner of the 2006-2007"Best Investigation Using ALEISS/COPLINK"* Click here for the Winner of the 2005-2006 "Best Investigation Using ALEISS/COPLINK"*
Wasilla PD Officer Jason Holmgren (who was working for Houston PD at the time) was dispatched April 1, 2008 to a shooting that occurred near Mile 53 of the Parks Highway. He requested the assistance of Wasilla PD and multiple units responded quickly as a suspect vehicle had been identified by the shooting victim. I assisted with the documentation of the scene and conducted multiple interviews. The victim provided important information approximately two weeks later and a search warrant was served at a location in close proximity to the crime scene. On April 18, 2008 I interviewed Suspect #1 but the relevance of his statements would not be clear until August of 2008. At that time, I was contacted by a citizen who would provide crucial facts that gave strong direction to this investigation. These facts identified Suspect #2 and confirmed that Suspect #1 had also been involved. In October 2008, the investigation and evidence in this case was transferred to Wasilla PD. As the investigation progressed, there was limited information about Suspect #2. In October of 2008, I identified his girlfriend through a search of ALEISS. Their names were also found to be linked in case involvement in APSIN. Although the case investigation had slowed down, continuing efforts were made to keep informed about the suspects in this case. In May 2009, Suspect #1 was served a subpoena to appear in court but failed to show. I contacted his employer who confirmed that the suspect had mentioned a subpoena and then failed to show up for work. This employer was cooperative and during the course of the interview, I learned that Suspect #2 had been working for him, also…….but had to suddenly leave the state. On May 15, 2009, I was searching ALEISS and attempting to make associations between the suspects and witnesses. I found a workplace address connected to the girlfriend of Suspect #2 and discovered who her mother was. Because of ALEISS, I was able to contact this woman who revealed the whereabouts of Suspect #2. On May 21, 2009, Suspect #2 was indicted for Attempted Murder, Assault in the First Degree, and Burglary. ALEISS is my most important investigative tool and resource for gathering Intel and with over 3 million documents in this system being shared cooperatively by 41 agencies, there is no resource that is comparable. Investigator Ruthan Josten During Christmas time 2008, and part of 2009, AST experienced multiple residential burglary/theft cases in the Mat-Su area. The thefts resulted in the loss of property estimated in the tens of thousands. Several guns were also taken during some of the burglaries. I investigated one of the burglaries and obtained serial numbers of some of the stolen items. Several weeks later I ran one of those serial numbers through ALEISS and got a hit at a pawn shop in Anchorage. Based on the ALEISS information, I was able to develop a suspect and his accomplice. Using the information provided by ALEISS, I was able to link both suspects to the same pawn shops, on the same day and at the same time. The information obtained by ALEISS was used for search warrants and during Grand Jury. It eventually led to the arrest of both suspects. Most of the items stolen were later recovered and returned to the owners. The information obtained from ALEISS was crucial in this case and tracking the suspect’s activities. The information was easy to obtain and ALEISS proved itself as a tool no law enforcement officer should be without. Trooper Ronald Hayes During the summer of 2008, I was involved in a search warrant at an Anchorage residence to recover a stolen laptop out of Seward. During the search warrant a second laptop and a handgun were located in the residence. An occupant claimed to be the owner of the laptop, and the owner of the residence claimed to be the owner of the gun. Inside the computer bag found with the 2nd laptop, a small Alaska Airline tag was found that contained a different name than the occupant who claimed ownership. A search of COPLINK showed that the name found on the airline tag had reported that same model and color of laptop stolen from him a few months prior. The victim did not provide the serial number to the Police when he filed the theft report. Based off this information, the victim was contacted and positively identified the laptop as his stolen one. The gun was also run in COPLINK and determined to belong to an Eagle River resident, not the owner of the residence that the search warrant was being executed on. The gun was found in a section of the residence where a known felon was staying. The one stolen laptop case turned into additional theft and felon in possession investigation. Investigator Nathan Bucknall I love the ALEISS system. I have only used it a couple of times but it has definitely come in handy. One case in point was on Nov 9, 2008. The airport police had a vehicle that was eluding officers and ramming gates and pretty much creating all kinds of havoc. The passenger that he pushed out of the car before it all started, of course did not know who was driving her around at 3 am (that's what they all say). One officer was able to get a good look at the subject driving and would be able to confirm through a picture or name. As the dispatcher, I went to the ALEISS system and ran the vehicle - hoping that it would come back with a male driver at some point. It did come back several times with the same male driver. I was able to use dmv operator license photo and mugshot photos on-line to get a photo for the officer to double check - and sure enough it was our guy. The passenger concurred and a warrant was issued. I was also able to use the ALEISS system to find the last several known addresses on the subject for officers to do follow-up if needed.
I do wish the Airport would subscribe to being able to add things into the ALEISS system, as we have several people visit our parks after hours and that would be a good way to link them together and with vehicles for future use and for other departments. Cynthia Hill, Dispatcher COPLINK was a successful tool that was needed and proved valuable on a dark and stormy night.
During the early morning hours of April 7, 2008, I contacted a female subject who is known to local law enforcement as a user and dealer of controlled substances, specifically methamphetamine. On the night in question the female had secreted controlled substances inside of a body cavity and was being detained pending a search warrant for her body. I transported her to the Police Department where she was merely being detained and was not under arrest; therefore time was of the essence.
During the next several hours my partner and I scrambled to gather information and case history about the subject. The female had numerous drug contacts and has been involved with every Kenai peninsula law enforcement agency. I needed current and reliable information to draft a search warrant probable cause statement. I telephoned Alaska State Trooper dispatch and spoke to dispatcher Stacey Day about the matter.
Over the next hour, Stacey went above and beyond to gather pertinent information to help support the investigation. Stacey checked multiple databases, including COPLINK / ALIESS and provided outstanding assistance to the investigation. COPLINK was able to “connect the dots” between agencies and provide the information needed.
During the search warrant process, the reviewing Magistrate commended me for the amount of detail put into the warrant, mentioning specifically the inter-agency contacts The Magistrate knew the warrant was put together under a ticking clock and a severe time crunch. I owe this commendation to COPLINK / ALIESS as direct result of the information it provided.
I would like to thank Stacey Day and Maxine Andrews for their hard work, as well as ALIESS for the “Information at Your Fingertips” that assisted the Kenai Police Department in this case.
Officer Aaron Turnage Kenai Police Department Two men come into a Fairbanks pawn shop and looked at two .308 caliber assault rifles. When the clerk handed them the rifles they ran off with them. One suspect was described as a white male with a tattoo of Alaska on the back of his neck. One of the responding officers ran this information in ALEISS and found only two people with this descriptor. One lived in Fairbanks. From there we identified him, contacted an associate of his who identified him from the video, located him the next day, arrested him and recovered one of the stolen guns. It was less than 48 hours from start to finish for him. We found the other guy the next week. The second gun is still missing. Investigator Scott Adams The US Marshals were attempting to locate a fugitive thought to be located in Fairbanks. Preliminary checks into the suspect met with very limited success. His last known address was several years old and he hadn't updated his license or registered a vehicle since then. After running the individual in ALEISS, we were able to identify a residence and contact person based on previous reports and found recent documentation of through his father's files as he was a Junior, with the same name. Entirely dependant upon the information gathered and input into ALEISS, the Marshals were able to locate and arrest the suspect. Amber R. Jones
During December of 2007 there was a call that came into Matcom Dispatch of a man in Palmer who had taken a machete type weapon and attacked his father and his father’s fiancé, killing his father and seriously injuring the fiancé. The attacker had fled unknown if he was on foot or in a vehicle. We determined that one vehicle; a black single cab truck was missing from the driveway but didn't know any other details about the vehicle. Using ALEISS, I was able to locate which vehicles matching that description were linked with our suspect. Within the hour I was able to put locates on all three of those vehicles and pass along not only the description, but license plates as well to the surrounding agencies. The suspect’s vehicle was located in Anchorage within 24 hours; unfortunately he had ditched this vehicle and gone on to attack other citizens in an attempt to steal their vehicles. I was also able to locate our suspect’s mother through ALEISS and her place of residence in Anchorage. I notified Anchorage police and they were able to send officers to do a welfare check on his mother in case he was going to attack her also. She was found to be in a different state at the time, however our suspect did make entry into her residence in Anchorage. I found ALEISS to be a very useful tool not only for the vehicles linked with our suspect, but also weapons, addresses, and people associated with him. Jacob Butcher On December 26, 2007, the Alaska Railroad Corporation (ARRC) discovered the Anchorage Historic Train Depot had been burglarized. The thief made off with several thousand dollars of ARRC merchandise and property. Our video surveillance captured the burglar exiting a vehicle; however, the resolution of the video was not clear enough to positively identify the suspect. Using an inventory list of the stolen items, ARRC Special Agent Jim Adams began checking ALEISS daily for pawn hits matching the stolen property. On January 11, 2008, using ALEISS, a pawn hit was discovered for some of the missing property. By following up on the pawn hit, ARRC Special Agents, working with the Anchorage Police Department, were able to develop a suspect and obtain a search warrant for the suspect’s residence. The search resulted in recovering additional ARRC property, as well as property taken in other Anchorage area burglaries. On January 18, 2008, the suspect was apprehended at the Anchorage – Ted Stevens Internal Airport as he was attempting to flee the State. He now faces several felony counts for theft and burglary. The investigation resulted in the recovery of all ARRC property, as well as the recovery of approximate $25000.00 worth of property from several other Anchorage area burglaries. Without the use of ALEISS, the ARRC investigation would have been delayed, allowing the suspect time to flee the State. Jim Adams Last year was the first year I started to use ALEISS and I had a great, but limited success directly relating to ALEISS. Unlike last year this past year I have used ALEISS as one of my main search tools in many of my cases and have had much more success. Although the success wasn't directly related to ALEISS in any one case, it did assist in many search warrants where property, drugs, and money were recovered, including but not limited to showing associates, addresses or contact information, vehicles, if they’re frequent pawners, property, and more. I have also had success with ALEISS this past year with searching for people and vehicles with very limited information; like in one stolen credit card case I was able to develop a suspect with just an unusual first name. I’ve done the same with limited suspect vehicle information in other thefts, and I have located stolen property from the Anchorage pawn shops. ALEISS is a great tool, and I feel that the more agencies and participants that put information into ALEISS the greater the benefit for everyone that uses it. Al Wysocki In March of 2007, a female came to the Wasilla P.D. to report that she received a number of taunting emails from an ex-boyfriend. She did not answer them and a short time later, she received a package in the mail from California. When she opened the package, she found that he had secretly recorded them having intercourse. This man indicated that he wanted monetary compensation for some items he left behind and stated in the email that he had additional DVD's and would sell them. The male had been an absconder from Texas and it now appeared that he left the state again. The taunting emails began again in late 2007. Although he had lived in Alaska in years, he did not own a registered vehicle nor did he file for PFD's. His address had not been updated in 3 years. I knew who his ex-girlfriend was and frequently ran her through ALEISS. Then in March 2008, I ran his name and found he had pawned an item in Anchorage. When I found he provided an address that matched the woman that had been his ex-girlfriend, I was able to locate him. I served a search warrant on his residence and arrested him in April 2008. He was charged with Indecent Viewing and Extortion. ALEISS has clearly demonstrated itself as a resource for solving a multitude of crimes. Something as simple as a pawned item proved crucial to locating my suspect in this unusual situation. With the use of the Active Agent module, two way information can be shared with email alerts and having the choice of privacy levels allows an officer to work covertly. Investigator Ruthan Josten The investigator had a tip from an informant regarding a drug dealer. The informant could provide one name (which could have been either a first or last name), directions to a residence (shared with the suspect’s mother), an age range, height of 6’4”, and heavyset build. He was also reported to be paranoid about law enforcement since he had an active warrant. By running the name in both the last name and first name slot with a height range (6’00” – 6’7”), and an age range, it narrowed the field. By comparing addresses with a map of the area described and his warrant information in APSIN, I was able to conclude it was most likely one person. By looking at his previous arrest information, I was able to identify the mother and a girlfriend who did share the same address. In the meantime, using the directions given by the informant, the investigator had driven by the residence and obtained a plate number confirming the same subject I had found in about 20 minutes … without any expenditure for gas. anonymous
anonymous Over the summer we investigated several copper wire thefts that totaled over $100,000 in stolen and damage property from commercial sites around the Nikiski, Kenai and Soldotna areas. I used ALEISS as a tool to compile bits and pieces of over twenty patrol cases generated by AST, Kenai and Soldotna Police. Intel from patrol Troopers in the field and anonymous witnesses were plugged into ALEISS and assisted us with identifying three possible suspects. This information led Soldotna ABI Investigators to a stash of over forty stolen guns from a residence near Sterling, AK. About half of the guns were reported stolen in jurisdictions outside of Alaska. The other half, were entered into ALEISS by the Anchorage Police Department. Some guns were listed as stolen in ALEISS, but weren’t coming up in APSIN
I ran the APD guns in ALEISS and crossed the owners/victims with the names of our possible suspects. Guess what? One of the victims was stopped for a traffic violation by Anchorage Police, in July, and the primary suspect was a passenger in that vehicle. I also took a Craig’s List ad relating to copper sales in our area and got a hit on the telephone number with several of our regular suspects. This case is still a long way from being wrapped up, but ALEISS in providing credible leads and is beyond amazing. I have used ALEISS as a tool to view case history, establish leads, corroborate evidence and track activity of suspects. The APD pawn records are very helpful because so many of our local theft/drug suspects seem to be pawning things in Anchorage. One has to suspect that some of the pawned items are coming from this area. I have many more examples of using ALEISS to assist with cased that involve check fraud, drugs and theft. Most recently I have been assisting the cold case investigators look into several suspects in very old murder cases. We are putting together some very interesting patterns and have eliminated some false leads as well. The day that APSIN is retooled to be compatible with ALEISS will be the day a tidal wave of previously unsolved cases will have a new beginning and will be solved. Inv. Terrence Shanigan I recently investigated a series of stolen vehicles after finding two vehicles on a property with plates on them belonging to other vehicles. During a search of the property I was able to confirm 2 stolen vehicles, a truck and a 4 wheeler through APSIN. I located an additional 7 four wheelers, 2 snow machines, 3 trailers, 4 firearms, and later and additional pickup truck. Most of these vehicles had their VINs altered, some completely unreadable. I was able to determine several vehicles VINs through alternate vehicle numbers, such as the engine numbers. A search through APSIN only revealed 2 of the vehicles had been entered in APSIN as stolen. I used COPLINK to perform a search for VIN numbers, partial VIN numbers, vehicle descriptions, makes, and models. I was able to identify owners to 5 4-wheelers, 1 snowmachine, 1 trailer, and 1 vehicle through COPLINK. The vehicles that have been identified were stolen in Anchorage, Soldotna, Kenai and Wasilla. In many cases the vehicles had not been entered into APSIN, the wrong VIN numbers provided to the agency, no VIN was provided to the agency, or no VIN number was located for comparison on the vehicle. Coplink allowed me to identify the owners of these vehicles, where the information would not have been available through DPS computers alone. This investigation has resulted in two individuals being arrest and the referral of charges for two minors. Coplink has helped me on a number of cases to identify suspects, cases, property, pawn records, phone numbers, addresses, associates, and many other resources. Inv. Curtis Vik Between 2005 and 2007 Troopers on the Kenai Peninsula had responded to reports of burglaries, thefts and drug related activities in the Sterling area north of Soldotna. In many cases there were very few leads, but the name of one potential suspect kept surfacing. A local records search for this person turned up nothing time and time again and it was if this individual was using a fake name or didn't exist at all. In January 2007 I signed up for my ALEISS account. The first thing that came to mind to test my new ALEISS access was searching for this "mystery" person. With a little help from a Judicial Services Officer in Kenai and the local ABADE drug unit administrator we identified a person believed to be the suspect. Using the relationship feature in ALEISS/COPLINK we were able to tie the suspect to a second individual already charged in these same crimes. We were able to identify possible items that were stolen on the Kenai Peninsula and pawned in Anchorage. All of this was accomplished within 48 hours. We could see where the two suspects who claim not to know each other shares phone numbers, residential addresses and frequented the same pawn shops at the same time. There are several individual cases being currently investigated involving these two suspects. Without ALEISS these cases might have gone unsolved or consumed an unacceptable amount of human and monetary resources. Trooper Terrence Shanigan During a two month multi-jurisdictional fraud and identity theft investigation our Task Force was able to use COPLINK to track numerous suspects traveling from Fairbanks to Anchorage and the Matsu Valley. COPLINK allowed us to determine which suspects were involved with fraud transactions based upon times and dates in COPLINK that detailed pawn information and police contact. We were also able to identify fraud cases with other agencies that were related to our investigation. COPLINK also provided valuable background information on several suspects and their relationships to each other. The use of ALEISS during this investigation convinced Palmer Police Detective Kelly Turney, a task force member, to petition his chief to become involved in ALEISS. Through the successful use of COPLINK/ALEISS in this case the task force was able to arrest and indict 10 suspects in two different judicial districts on numerous felony charges including Forgery, Theft, Fraudulent Use of an Access Device and Criminal Impersonation. These suspects were responsible for between $300,000.00 and $500,000.00 in fraudulent charges and forged checks. Currently, all our officers and our dispatchers at the Palmer Police Department have been trained in the use of COPLINK/ALEISS and can benefit from this valuable resource. Inv. Pearl Holston Detective Kelly J. Turney In November, 2006 I attempted to locate a stolen air compressor and identify it to a suspect. Using ALEISS/COPLINK I identified the air compressor and suspect. Two search warrants later using information also gained from ALEISS/COPLINK on the same suspect and items he pawned I was able to link the suspect in 4 other burglary/thefts. Al Wysocki On 12-3-06, at 1757 hours, Wasilla Police Department received a 911 call from a local gun store, reporting that an armed robbery had just occurred. A male suspect had been in the store a couple hours previous to purchase a magazine for his Smith&Wesson. When the magazine was found to be defective, he was given ammunition as a replacement. The male left the store and returned an hour later complaining that he wanted his money returned and did not want the ammunition. When the suspect had the policy explained, he became combative and was walked out of the store. A couple of minutes later, he barged into the store and quickly walked up on the store owner pointing a gun at his head while threatening to kill him. After leaving with a small amount of cash, the suspect ran across the parking lot to where his vehicle was parked at a local grocery store. A witness in the gun store chased the suspect and got a license plate. The license plate, when ran in APSIN, returned to a woman with an address in Anchorage. I ran the woman in ALEISS and quickly found her home address matched the registration address on the suspect vehicle. The woman had 25 documents associated with her name but I was searching for a male suspect. In one of her documents, I found the name of her son. Her son was then pulled up in ALEISS and his physical identifiers matched the description of my suspect. A photo lineup was obtained and shown to the witnesses who were in the gun store during the robbery. Four witnesses identified the suspect. A search warrant was served on his residence in Anchorage with the assistance of APD Detectives. The suspect was complacent for a short period of time after the arrest and then angrily escalated, initiating a physical confrontation with APD Detectives and WPD Investigators. He was indicted by a Grand Jury for Robbery First Degree, Assault Third Degree, Assault Fourth Degree, and Resisting Arrest. The suspect was identified within five hours of the robbery and arrested in less than 48 hours because of the valuable information available through ALEISS. Investigator Ruthan Josten In January and February 2005 I was investigating a series of thefts and burglaries from several construction sites through out the Matsu Valley. I received a bit of information from an informant that two individuals had been stealing tools and construction materials from these construction sites and had been selling them to other individuals and pawn shops. Unfamiliar with the Anchorage pawn shops, I used COPLINK/ALEISS to look for any contacts that the Anchorage Police Department had with these two individuals. COPLINK/ALEISS showed that these two individuals had recently pawned more than 40 items in Anchorage, many of which were immediately identified by serial numbers as having been stolen from various contractors. With the use of COPLINK/ALEISS I was able to recover approximately $15,000 in stolen construction tools solve 6 construction site thefts and 1 burglary and secure restitution for the victims involved. I have had several other cases and situations that have arisen over the last year where COPLINK/ALEISS has positively impacted the cases that I'm working. Inv. Curtis Vik
Alaska State Troopers
Alaska Bureau of Investigation
Matsu Property Crimes Unit
I recently received a telephone call from a prosecutor calling about a murder trial in Washington. Like Alaska, they have the ability to listen to inmate telephone conversations. The prosecutor was having trouble finding the suspects mother and mothers telephone number. They wanted to target the jail house listening for evidence of knowledge. He called and spoke with the dispatcher who ran our local data base and found nothing on the mother. I overheard the telephone conversation and offered to search "other sources". Using ALEISS, I found the woman, was able to tell the prosecutor valuable information and it was nice to hear his amazement as to how quickly the information was available and the detail at my fingertips. Thanks Mitchell E. Langseth Recently the Statewide Law Enforcement Information Center was asked to help identify a possible suspect in reference to a death threat investigation. All that was given was a few details and a moniker. Through other means we were able to associate the moniker with a telephone number. Hoping we were onto something, I brought up ALEISS COPLINK and ran the phone number. Bingo! We got a hit in the time frame we were looking for, which was 2001, along with a name associated to the phone number and the person's identifiers. This information and a photo was forwarded to the the investigator who ultimately made a positive ID of his suspect. We would have never found a name associated with the phone number if not for the historical records and case information in ALEISS. ALEISS has become a very important research tool for us. It is the first place I go to search phone numbers and names. Thanks for providing such a valuable resource. Sue Davis, Research Analyst On 08/22/05 I was attempting to identify two subjects who were named drug dealers. I was only given an associate’s full name and the first names of the suspects. COPLINK identified the suspects when I looked up the associates name. If it weren't for COPLINK in this situation, I would not have found the suspects in question. Traci Trent The Alaska Association of Chiefs of Police (AACOP) will present the award "Best Investigation Using ALEISS/COPLINK" each year at the Alaska Peace Officers Association Crime Conference. The submissions are judged by AACOP board of Directors. |
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