Fighting Crime Across State Lines - WMDT 47 News - Delmarva's Choice

SALISBURY, Md. - When crime crosses state lines, cracking down on offenders becomes much more challenging. Which is why Maryland and Delaware leaders are working together on a solution.

Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley and Delaware Governor Jack Markell, as well as Law enforcement from across the Eastern Shore, converged on Salisbury to discuss their new inter-state information sharing initiative. "The opportunities for us to work together," says Governor Markell, "whether it's on crime, is a very natural place to start..." Governor O'Malley agreed, "To develop the partnerships and the relationships and also the protocols that allow us to share arrest data right away when it happens."

They discussed the details of the project behind closed doors at Salisbury University, but Governors Martin O'Malley and Jack Markell told reporters they are now working on an information sharing database that will send out alerts across state lines, real time. "Once they're given the green light," says O'Malley, "and are allowed to share this information then that becomes a huge help to law enforcement."

Through this new system, Delaware and Maryland authorities would be able to share information on violent offenders, keep track of parole violators, and monitor youth in the juvenile justice system. "That's what we really need to do," O'Malley stressed, "We need to think of those borders more like county borders and less like state borders."

According to the Governors O'Malley and Markell, this new information-sharing system would not cost taxpayers any additional money and no new personnel would have to be hired.