MORGANTOWN  -- Police departments across the country have worked independently for years, only joining forces with other departments when necessary.

But now a new program in our area is changing the way the police handle their investigations.

Organizers say Monongalia County is the first in the state to link all of their law enforcement departments together.

They're using state-of-the art computer technology totaling half a million dollars to revamp how they report investigations and fight crime not just in their jurisdiction, but across the county.

"The level of cooperation that this county shares is overwhelming," explained Granville Chief Ron Snyder.

Snyder wrote the grant for the Mobile Synch system.

It puts everything from arrests, to calls and cases at the officers' fingertips.

Changing the way police work is done.

"When I first got into it," Snyder explained about policing, "what happens in Morgantown stayed in Morgantown, and Westover, stayed in Westover and never in between should meet."

But now by simply logging in any officer can access other departments and search for suspects.

"The criminals have no boundaries, unfortunately law enforcement does," he said, "But now we've closed those boundaries with this system."

Just this week thieves stole 21 catalytic converters from University Motors.

The state police is investigating.

But with this new program all departments will be on the lookout and be able to access those reports.

"We can look county wide at thefts, sexual assaults, any kind of crime and look for those little pieces of information or evidence that we can link those together," said Morgantown Police Chief Phil Scott.

In addition to the system officers will also have laptops in the field.

But it doesn't stop there.

"This is just simply a tablet," Scott explained pointing out how the laptop computer bends into a notebook, "they can take a statement, they can sign it, capture it, it's in the report."

Revolutionizing the way work is collected and stored and making crime fighting even more efficient.

The system is being implemented in three phases.

Getting all departments online, distributing the mobile units and then linking other agencies like the prosecutors office and magistrate court.

When everything is done Chief Snyder said "it will tie the county together like it's never been tied together before."