The Missouri Uniform Law Enforcement System (MULES) went online Friday for use by the Daviess County Sheriff’s Department.
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The Missouri Uniform Law Enforcement System (MULES) went online Friday for use by the Daviess County Sheriff’s Department. Daviess County 911 is the operating agency for MULES.
At this time, no other entities will be able to use the system. This will be the situation for at least 30-60 days. Operators of the system will be trained by the Missouri State Highway Patrol and must complete a 40-hour certification course. Dispatchers are allowed 6 months to receive this certification; however, two part-time dispatchers are already MULES certified.
The certification course will be instructed by Wayne Klinesmith, radio operator for the Missouri State Highway Patrol, based in St. Joseph. He is the MULES trainer for Troop H.
Daviess County Sheriff Kevin Heldenbrand is the chief officer over the MULES system. Dana Carder, 911 Supervisor, is the Terminal Agency Coordinator, and Deputy Jerry Baldwin is the Terminal Agency Administrator. Both Dana and Jerry will become certified for full access to MULES.
Due to the complexity of the system, operators must receive more training and become more familiar with the system before it will be approved for use by agencies other than the county sheriff’s office. If an arrest should be made in error, due to operators’ being unfamiliar with the system, they would be liable for the mistake. Operation of the system requires precise knowledge; manuals for operation of MULES are several inches thick.
Daviess County law enforcement agencies have previously relied on the City of Cameron for the information which will now be immediately available to Daviess County officers. Cameron is still online, and will continue to be available to assist local operators until full training is completed.
Daviess County began the process of implementing MULES back in February, and received special help from the Highway Patrol in expediting the process. Colonel Weldon Wilhoit, a former Gallatin resident, approved the system for Daviess County, and various other personnel in Jefferson City were instrumental in speeding up the implementation of the system. The City of Cameron has also been very helpful throughout the process.
Following 911 board approval of the system at the March 29 meeting, and with the support of the Daviess County Commission, the system went online April 20, more than three weeks earlier than the expected May 15 date.
It is important that citizens understand that emergency 911 calls still take precedence over any
routine officer traffic call to MULES. If the local MULES system is involved in an emergency 911 situation at the time that an officer calls for a response, however, the officer’s information will still be recorded for a response as soon as the emergency is resolved.
MULES enables operators to run computer checks by license plate number, name, social security number, and includes scans for missing persons, merchandise serial numbers, offense reports, warrants, probation, criminal history, protection orders, and more. The system uses network interfaces with the national system (NCIC), the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (NLETS), The Office of Administration (OA), the Department of Revenue (DOR), the Regional Justice Information Service (REJIS), and Automate Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT). It will enable local officers to know just seconds after they make a traffic stop whether there is cause for extra caution. Officers are not presently required to run license plates when they make traffic stops, but they may at their discretion.
MULES automatically prints out weather bulletins and many other types of bulletins from Jefferson City. Originals of these bulletins must stay in the office, with copies sent to probation
officers, courts and other agencies, as requested. If a warrant shows up, 911 must notify the agencies involved. No additional staff will be required to run MULES.