Coast Guard plans mobile access to law enforcement database

The Coast Guard is looking to give its enforcement personnel access to its safety and law enforcement database via mobile apps.

Modernizing the military service's 20-year old Marine Information for Safety and Law Enforcement system (MISLE) for mobile use will help operators in the field be more efficient, said Vice Adm. Scott Buschman, the Coast Guard's deputy commandant for operations.

"We're looking at what the MISLE needs to be of the future," Buschman testified Oct. 20 during a House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation hearing. "We're also looking at...taking pieces of MISLE and breaking it down in applications so they can use it in a mobile fashion."

MISLE, which includes some portions the public can access, houses data on marine accidents, search and rescue cases, law enforcement activities, vessel inspections and incidents involving pollution.

The Government Accountability Office found in a July 2020 report that the MISLE system suffered from data errors, inconsistent entries, and that the Coast guard needed to "identify and analyze alternatives to select solutions to meet mission needs."

Buschman said MISLE mobile apps mean operators, who are often boarding or on vessels, can enter data from the field instead of heading back to the office to do it on a computer.

"So the folks in the field that are out there boarding a vessel, maybe it's a commercial vessel, and right now, they have to drive back to their office and maybe several hours to enter data on a computer," Buschman said. "We're trying to give mobile apps to folks so they can be much, much more efficient."

This article was first posted to FCW.