The Orange County Intelligence Assessment Center (OCIAC) on Tuesday, January 29, was recognized by the Orange County Board of Supervisors for their work in 2018, which garnered the team several awards including being named the nation’s top fusion center.
In November 2018, OCIAC was recognized as the 2018 Fusion Center of the Year at the 2018 National Fusion Center Association (NFCA) conference in Alexandria, Va. The Fusion Center of the Year award recognizes one center for providing exceptional services to their jurisdiction and providing an example of best practices to the nation.
OCIAC, established in 2007, houses representatives from 16 federal, state and local law enforcement and related agencies working to gather and analyze information from various sources to keep Orange County safe from criminal and terrorist activity.
The fusion center is staffed by 52 full-time and part-time employees, including law enforcement, fire fighters, and intelligence analysts embedded from agencies including the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, Orange County Fire Authority, Orange County District Attorney’s Office, the Anaheim, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Laguna Beach, La Habra, Orange, and Tustin police departments, Anaheim fire department and officials representing various divisions from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Its key function is to vet information about suspicious activity from law enforcement, fire, public health, the private sector, and the general public. On average, OCIAC fields more than 1,100 tips or leads a year of such activity.
In addition to the Fusion Center of the Year award, OCIAC also received accolades from the National Maritime Intelligence Office (NMIO) and U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
- The OCIAC and Los Angeles Joint Regional Intelligence Center (JRIC) received a joint award from NMIO, 2018 Maritime Domain Awareness Executive Committee’s Award for exceptional collaboration efforts between maritime partners.
- OCIAC was recognized by DHS’s Homeland Information Sharing Network (HSIN), 2018 Best of HSIN Winners. OCIAC received the Silver Award in the category for Greatest Impact to the Information Sharing Environment. HSIN winners demonstrated excellence in information sharing to further mission support, operational efficiency, user experience and stakeholder engagement.
The National Fusion Center Association (NFCA) represents the interests of the 79 state and major urban area fusion centers, as well as associated interests of states, tribal nations, and units of local government, in order to promote the development and sustainment of fusion centers to enhance public safety; encourage effective, efficient, ethical, lawful, and professional intelligence and information sharing; and prevent and reduce the harmful effects of crime and terrorism on victims, individuals, and communities.
