Last Updated on Tuesday, 02 August 2011 12:45 Written by Administrator Wednesday, 23 March 2011 12:03
Q. Who administers the Pegasus Program?
A. The Pegasus Program is administered by the Pegasus Research Foundation, a non-profit entity, in conformance with BJA policies and standards and in partnership with the Pegasus Technology Consortium. www.pegasusresearch.org. The Pegasus Program's Local-2-Local Information Sharing Initiative ("L2L") is made possible through a grant provided by the Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Administration (BJA). The Pegasus Crisis Reentry Initiative is made possible through the support of private sector critical infrastructure sector firms.
Q. What role does the National Sheriffs’ Association have in the Pegasus Program?
A. The National Sheriffs’ Association initiated the Pegasus Program along with the Pegasus Research Foundation and sponsors and supports its initiatives.
Q. How will the Pegasus Program work with regional information sharing initiatives?
A. The Pegasus Program, through its Local-2-Local Information Sharing Initiative, (“L2L”) does not intend to duplicate the services provided by any other initiative. Where a local initiative or a particular software provider has already implemented information sharing between local agency databases, Pegasus will work with that group to provide their law enforcement information (as appropriate) to the rest of the nation, and to provide law enforcement information from the rest of the nation to their authorized users.
Q. What other applications or initiatives does the Pegasus Program provide to local law enforcement agencies?
A. The Pegasus Program is involved in several initiatives in addition to Local-2-Local Information Sharing. These include the Pegasus Crisis Reentry Initiative, a national program for emergency responder Access Control and Credentialing, which is funded by private sector critical infrastructure firms. The Jail Information Model (JIM), a new initiative, supports the NSA’s JIM program. The JIM initiative enables detention and correction facilities to participate in a nationwide effort to gather key information not otherwise available from these facilities and make it available to other law enforcement users. In addition, the Pegasus National Directory is a nationwide electronic directory of government and first responder agencies, including contacts and available “mutual aid” type services.
Q. Will the Local-2-Local Initiative be available to rural law enforcement agencies?
A. The Pegasus Program has a special focus on meeting the information sharing needs of rural and smaller agencies.
Q. Will the Pegasus Program be available to agencies outside of law enforcement?
A. The Pegasus Program is intended to provide information exchange services for Sheriffs, local law enforcement agencies, and other first responder groups (Fire, EMS, Health). The first objective of the Pegasus Program is to provide information sharing services to local law enforcement agencies. Although there are many common information sharing needs of law enforcement and other first responder groups, the information content and information security requirements for other first responder groups will require special practices and policies.
PROGRAM INFORMATION:
Q. Are there any critical components that are not provided by Pegasus?
A. Yes. Each agency must provide access to the Internet through a compatible browser.
Q. Will Pegasus build a data warehouse of the local information?
A. No. Pegasus will maintain a database of “Pointer” data that will direct any inquiry to the appropriate agency database as needed. The focus will be on federated query of data residing at the local agency. The agency will remain in control of the data and will determine what information may be shared with other Pegasus users.
Q. Who decides which information will be shared?
A. Each agency head, or designated representative, will decide which information is shared and with whom it is shared.
Q. Does the Local-2-Local Pegasus Initiative change the data in the local agency systems?
A. No. The Local-2-Local Pegasus Initiative does NOT add, delete, or alter any information stored in the local agency RMS or JMS. The Pegasus Program does comply with applicable Federal technical standards, including NIEM, LEX S and N-DEx standards, as well as Federal privacy and civil liberties policies, so as to enable local agencies to share with N-DEx and other information sharing programs which use NIEM-conformant information sharing. Accordingly, the Pegasus Program does reformat (or “transform”) data from their existing non-standardized formats into a NIEM conformant format, to enable sharing with others authorized by the agency head that use Pegasus or other NIEM-conformant information sharing.
Q. Does the Pegasus Program access any public databases?
A. Currently, the only data the Pegasus Program shares is local agency Records Management and Jail Management information. There are plans to link to other Law Enforcement sharing initiatives at the local, regional and national levels.
Q. If we do not contribute data to the Pegasus Local-2-Local , can we still access the data provided by other agencies?
A. Yes. However, implementation and enrollment priority will go to those agencies that provide data to the Program.
USER ACCESS:
Q. Who is authorized to access the Pegasus Program?
A. Only law enforcement personnel such as the Sheriff, Chief of Police and selected agency personnel may access the Pegasus Program.
Q. How are the authorized personnel selected?
A. Each agency head will select the personnel from his/her agency who will use the Pegasus Program.
Q. How is access to the Pegasus Program secured?
A. Each user is authenticated by a user id, password, and fingerprint or other approved login procedure.
Q. Will Pegasus provide a Help Desk?
A. Yes. Help will be available from 8-5 central time by calling (800) 392-4312.
Q. Will Pegasus provide training on the system?
A. Yes. Pegasus representatives will conduct user training at the time of installation of the Pegasus hardware and enrollment of Pegasus users.
COMMUNICATIONS:
Q. How do I logon to the Pegasus Program?
A. The Pegasus applications and data retrieval are reached by logon to the Pegasus secure Internet site.
Q. Can I access the Pegasus Program from any PC connected to the Internet?
A. Yes. However, access to Pegasus requires fingerprint authentication, so any access point must have an approved fingerprint reader (hardware) and the corresponding software installed.
Q. What speed Internet connection is required for the Pegasus Program?
A. Dial-up speed of 56K is acceptable; however performance will be better with higher speed broadband connections.
Q. If my office does not have high speed or broadband Internet, will Pegasus provide additional network connections or Internet access?
A. No. The Pegasus Program is designed to make law enforcement information available to authorized users.
DATA INTERFACE:
Q. Will the Pegasus Program work with my existing Records Management and Jail Management System?
A. Yes. Pegasus does not require or encourage any agency to replace their existing systems. Your system will be required to provide data in one of several standard electronic formats on a routine basis.
Q. How will Pegasus access the RMS and JMS data?
A. The best method is for the providers of the software programs you now have to install a standard NIEM conformant interface to your system.
Q. If my software provider cannot include this standard interface can we still connect to the Pegasus Program?
A. Yes. There are other methods we can use to make your data available to other authorized Pegasus users. Pegasus will work with your software providers to determine the most appropriate method.
Q. If there is a delay in developing the standard interface between the RMS and JMS provider and the Pegasus Program, can we still be enrolled and participate in the other functions?
A. Yes. However, implementation and enrollment priority will go to those agencies that provide data to the Program.
Q. Does Pegasus provide or recommend RMS or JMS software?
A. No
