Columbia to share police software with other towns

The City of Columbia will begin sharing police software with other agencies.

The Columbia City Council approved sharing the CPD K9 software with Bates County, which is south of Kansas City. The agreement lets the county use the program, developed by Columbia’s IT Department.

Sergeant Scott Hedrick has worked for Columbia police’s K9 unit for more than a decade, taking the lead on it in 2014. He said the department went to the city’s IT division after trying to use other software programs to track the progress and activity of their dogs, both in training and at crime scenes.

The custom program measures what the dogs find at scenes, if anything, as well as the results of any “tracks” the dogs perform while searching for suspects. Sgt. Hedrick said they can also record the temperature and wind speed to allow for greater detail, which helps them see which dogs are performing well in what conditions.

CPD utilizes five K9 units, which are trained in narcotics and weapon searches, as well as tracking suspects.

Sgt. Hedrick said both Butler and Lee’s Summit Police Departments have asked about using the software, as well.