The Marquette University Police Department recently implemented a new ProPhoenix database system, which connects the department with all other police and public safety agencies in the county who use the system.
“ProPhoenix has come into its own over the past five to six years,” MUPD Capt. Jeff Kranz said. “A lot of police departments use ProPhoenix and we have decided to incorporate this into our system.”
After starting out with a system geared toward a public safety department, MUPD decided it was time for a more advanced system.
“Our report-writing system and our database system are both in the process of being upgraded,” Kranz said. “The report-writing system was more security-based and was made for the DPS* function.”
Kranz continued, mentioning the additional services provided. “The new ProPhoenix system incorporates many new things into our data, such as incident reports, property inventory control, dispatch systems and booking systems.”
Former Waukegan police chief Mark McCormick said MUPD’s system is similar to the one in his office.
“We used a company called New World, and our writing system was integrated through that,” McCormick said. “Obviously MUPD is using the ProPhoenix system, which is different from ours, but there are a lot of similarities. The main similarity being that we both are connected to multiple other databases.”
Kranz said the system “makes it much easier to mine for data” such as archived video.
As time goes on, Kranz believes the force and its software will get stronger and stronger.
“MPD’s advantage just comes in the fact that they have been around longer than us,” Kranz said. “Ultimately, I think we will become an even better police force once we get some time under our belts. Once we have a good amount of time for data to collect, we will be able to make more accurate assessments on things.”
MUPD detective Billy Ball previously worked for MPD and said with the development of the new system, MUPD can become elite.
“I think we are already a strong force, but the incorporation of ProPhoenix is going to be huge for us going forward,” Ball said.
*The Department of Public Safety was replaced by MUPD in 2013.
