KEY IDEAS:
- Pinellas County investigators needed cross-jurisdiction visibility to locate a hit-and-run suspect quickly.
- Disconnected systems and delayed information sharing can slow multi-agency investigations.
- Pinellas County agencies use Peregrine to access shared investigative data and improve situational awareness.
- Shared real-time visibility helped officers identify an active lead and coordinate the suspect’s arrest within hours.
“We never had a multi-agency database for all of our information, and I’ve always been amazed by the fact that within the same county, I don’t have access to all the traffic stops that Pinellas Park or Clearwater or the sheriff’s office does. The fact that we have something like that now is pretty incredible.”
Officer Ryan Manning
Largo Police Department
PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — On May 8, 2025, a mother and her 6-year-old child were hit by a car in a retail store parking lot in Pinellas County, Florida. The driver immediately fled the scene, leaving behind the two severely injured pedestrians and multiple damaged vehicles.
Both hit-and-run victims were admitted to the hospital. The mother had sustained serious injuries, and the child had suffered critical, life-threatening injuries. Though police quickly identified the hit-and-run suspect and located her vehicle abandoned at a nearby motel, its driver, Lauren Howells, was nowhere to be found. So the search began: Law enforcement needed to locate and apprehend Howells before she left the area or caused additional damage.
By the end of that day, Howells was caught — but it wasn’t easy. The operation required airtight communication and lockstep collaboration across multiple agencies and information systems. Because Pinellas County’s public safety agencies share data in Peregrine, officers were able to instantly exchange the time-sensitive information that ultimately led to Howells’ arrest.
Keep reading to learn how seamless, real-time interagency data sharing helped law enforcement find and arrest Howells in just a few hours — an operation that could have otherwise taken days.
🔑 KEY TAKEAWAY: Real-time data sharing helped Pinellas County law enforcement agencies coordinate across jurisdictions, identify live investigative leads, and locate a hit-and-run suspect within hours.
How disconnected systems slow cross-agency investigations
Crime doesn’t care about jurisdictional boundaries. When offenders cross city and county lines, as they often do, responding agencies must work from a common operating picture so they can coordinate efficient investigations. They can’t afford fragmented communications or redundant efforts — especially in time-sensitive situations, such as this Pinellas County hit-and-run case.
Collaboration is integral to public safety in Pinellas County, Florida. The Pinellas Regional Information Management Enterprise (PRIME) unites local law enforcement, 911, fire-rescue, and emergency medical services through shared information systems, technology platforms, and reporting methods.
🧠 WHAT IS THE PINELLAS REGIONAL INFORMATION MANAGEMENT ENTERPRISE? PRIME comprises agencies from Clearwater, Largo, Pinellas Park, St. Petersburg, and Tarpon Springs, plus the Pinellas Safety Emergency Services Department and the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO).
Even in regions with strong interagency partnerships, investigators often work across separate systems that don’t automatically share information. Officers may need to manually request records, monitor multiple databases, or rely on phone and radio updates to piece together a suspect’s movements.
In fast-moving investigations, those delays can make it harder for agencies to identify leads, track suspect activity, and coordinate an effective response.
🔑 KEY TAKEAWAY: Cross-agency investigations often slow down when agencies rely on disconnected systems, manual information requests, and fragmented communications.
Why real-time data sharing matters in public safety investigations
In Pinellas County, participating agencies can access shared dispatch, records, and investigative data in near real time, giving officers visibility into law enforcement activity happening across jurisdictions as investigations unfold. To support coordinated investigations across jurisdictions, all PRIME member agencies share:
- A computer-aided dispatch system
- A records management system
- Peregrine, an advanced data integration and analytics platform
🔎 WHY IS REAL-TIME DATA SHARING IMPORTANT IN LAW ENFORCEMENT?
Real-time data sharing helps public safety agencies coordinate investigations across jurisdictions, reduce delays caused by disconnected systems, and respond more quickly to active incidents. Shared visibility into calls for service, traffic stops, and records can help investigators identify leads faster and improve situational awareness during time-sensitive operations.
Peregrine breaks down jurisdictional silos by enabling seamless, real-time data sharing among participating partner agencies.
“We never had a multi-agency database for all of our information, and I’ve always been amazed by the fact that within the same county, I don’t have access to all the traffic stops that Pinellas Park or Clearwater or the sheriff’s office does,” Manning said. “The fact that we have something like that now is pretty incredible.”
💡 HOW PEREGRINE SUPPORTS INTERAGENCY INVESTIGATIONS IN PINELLAS COUNTY:
- Gives agencies a real-time view of law enforcement activity across the county, including 911 calls and traffic stops
- Allows investigators to search across shared dispatch, records, and investigative systems simultaneously
- Helps personnel identify leads faster with cleaner, deduplicated person records
- Enables agencies to control how shared data is accessed and distributed across jurisdictions
- Supports secure interagency collaboration through CJIS-compliant standards, granular permissions, and modern encryption standards
Peregrine doesn’t just help Pinellas County agencies access shared information; it also helps investigators reduce duplicate records and build a clearer picture of individuals connected to active investigations. Peregrine applies Match, a proprietary entity resolution algorithm, across all PRIME agencies to deduplicate person records and build a clean, comprehensive profile of each individual who enters the system in Pinellas County.
As a result, Pinellas County personnel can access more complete investigative context, improve situational awareness, and coordinate more effectively during active investigations.
🔑 KEY TAKEAWAY: A shared data platform like Peregrine helps public safety agencies access real-time investigative data across jurisdictions, improving coordination and accelerating lead identification.
CASE STUDY → How the Concord Police Department Uses Real-Time Data To Solve Cross-Jurisdictional Crime
How real-time data sharing helped Pinellas County officers locate a hit-and-run suspect
That shared visibility became critical as officers searched for the hit-and-run suspect. Largo Police Department (LPD) officers, including Officer Ryan Manning, responded to the scene of the pedestrian collision shortly after Howell fled. Once Manning learned that Howell’s vehicle had been found without her in it, he shifted his full focus to determining where she might have gone.
Howell did not have a permanent address, which gave Manning limited information to work with in his investigation.
“I scoured every database we have,” he said. “I was looking for connections, people she may have known, other reports that may have given me an address that she could have gone to.”
However, the lack of relevant information about Howell slowed the investigation to a near-standstill. LPD even sent officers “all over the county” to residences that were potentially associated with Howell, but they found no leads. Without a clear location tied to Howell, officers struggled to determine where she might go next or which leads were most relevant.
“Those were all dead ends,” Manning said. “We were running on fumes.”
🔑 KEY TAKEAWAY: Even when investigators identify a suspect quickly, limited visibility across systems and jurisdictions can slow efforts to locate and apprehend them.
How investigators surfaced a live traffic stop in real time
“In Peregrine, I was able to see every action being taken on that traffic stop. I was able to see the intersection where the traffic stop was, who was doing the traffic stop, and everything that was being done.” —Officer Ryan Manning, Largo Police Department
Because Peregrine updates shared investigative data in near real time, Manning continued searching Howell’s information in the platform. After around two hours of attempts, Manning punched in Howell’s driver’s license number and spotted a brand-new search result: a traffic stop from the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, which shares data with LPD in Peregrine.
A PCSO deputy had pulled over a vehicle registered to Howell — different from the vehicle involved in the hit-and-run — just minutes ago, and the traffic stop was still ongoing at the time of Manning’s search.
🔎 WHY DOES CROSS-JURISDICTION VISIBILITY MATTER DURING ACTIVE INVESTIGATIONS?
Suspects often move across city or county lines, making it difficult for a single agency to maintain full visibility into their activity. Shared operational awareness can help officers identify new leads and coordinate effective responses.
“It’s funny how the stars aligned for this,” Manning said. “In Peregrine, I was able to see every action being taken on that traffic stop. I was able to see the intersection where the traffic stop was, who was doing the traffic stop, and everything that was being done.”
Manning notified his sergeant, who jumped on PCSO’s radio channel to ask that the deputy hold the vehicle. As it turned out, Howell was not in the car, and the man operating it had been pulled over for reasons unrelated to the hit-and-run — driving with the headlights off. However, the man driving Howell’s vehicle was connected to her and knew where she was hiding out.
“It’s really incredible that I happened to specifically run her driver’s license through Peregrine at the moment that a secondary vehicle of hers — not one involved in the crash, but another vehicle she owns — was being stopped by the sheriff’s office,” Manning said. “It’s just crazy timing, and that’s how we ended up locating her.”
🔎 HOW CAN REAL-TIME SHARED DATA HELP INVESTIGATORS IDENTIFY NEW LEADS?
Real-time shared data allows investigators to see active law enforcement activity across jurisdictions as it happens. That visibility can help officers identify emerging leads, connect related incidents, and collaborate during active investigations.
How real-time coordination helped officers locate and arrest the suspect
Because LPD and PCSO share data in Peregrine, Manning was notified of the traffic stop as it was happening. That timing proved critical.
“It was real time,” Manning said. “It was a crazy coincidence, too. Had we not known that they were on a traffic stop, the sheriff’s deputy would have just let that guy go.”
The man driving Howell’s vehicle shared information about Howell that enabled LPD officers to locate and arrest her at a motel later that night. Without that information, the search may have gone on for several more days, Manning said.
CASE STUDY → How the Richmond Police Department Reduced Cross-Jurisdictional Violent Crime Through Interagency Data Sharing
“Our investigation was losing steam until we got hit with that traffic stop,” he said. “It probably would have been at least another day, or several days, looking for her, because she didn’t have a permanent address, and she was only at that particular motel because she was hiding out.”
Shared real-time visibility across Pinellas County agencies improved situational awareness and helped officers coordinate the suspect’s arrest more quickly.
🔑 KEY TAKEAWAY: Real-time coordination between Pinellas County agencies helped officers act on an active lead before it disappeared, ultimately accelerating the suspect’s arrest.
Empower your agency with a full operational picture
Context is key for law enforcement data, and shared data from partner agencies can provide critical context. Peregrine helps agencies access and act on shared investigative data across jurisdictions, giving personnel a more complete operational picture during active investigations.
Using Peregrine, personnel can search against internal systems and partner agencies’ shared systems simultaneously. They gain immediate access to clean, organized, and comprehensive results that update in real time.
With shared visibility into law enforcement activity, agencies can coordinate investigations more effectively, identify leads faster, and improve situational awareness in time-sensitive situations. Contact our team to learn how Peregrine can improve interagency collaboration in your region.
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