Barbara Montgomery, project manager for ARJIS, said ARJIS differs from the OHLEG-SE because it is mainframe-based and all police agencies have to use the same software to access information. Some 70 police and law enforcement agencies have access to ARJIS.

Such data-sharing programs are not widespread in the U.S., because of their cost -- especially for smaller police departments, she said. In fact, ARJIS was made possible only after a number of departments pooled their money.

"No single police department could afford to buy [the hardware and the skills of] a bunch of computer programmers so it was truly a 'united we stand, divided we fall' approach," Montgomery said. The next generation of ARJIS is being planned now, with the system likely to evolve over the next few years from its mainframe roots to a server-based enterprise architecture for more flexibility, she said.

Sgt. Robert Lippert of the Erie County, Ohio, sheriff's office, said the OHLEG-SE has advantages over national crime databases because officials can enter more general information about a suspect. An officer, for example, can't enter a partial license plate number into the NCIC database or into another Ohio state crime database, the Law Enforcement Automated Data System (LEADS), and come up with possible matches, he said.

"OHLEG-SE has taken NCIC and LEADS a step farther," Lippert said. Steven Raubenolt, director of the OHLEG-SE program, said it also offers training for police officers using software developed by Optimum Technologies of Columbus, Ohio.