Kansas City, Mo. ? Thirteen law enforcement agencies in the two-state Kansas City metropolitan area are teaming up for a project to share information about crimes and criminals more easily.

Officials announced Tuesday the adoption of the COPLINK computer program, which they said will give departments quick access to details about crimes in other communities so they can try to link suspects faster.

Executives of the Tucson, Ariz.-based company that developed COPLINK say the effort is the largest bistate collaboration they have seen use the program.

“Criminals don’t care about state lines,” said Kansas City, Mo., police Capt. Diane Mozzicato, a project coordinator. “Police officers, police agencies have to think in that same mind-set in order to catch them.”

Police departments in both Kansas City, Mo., and Kansas City, Kan., will be part of the project, along with 11 other area police and sheriff’s departments.

The program will cost more than $1 million to run initially. Officers are expected to start using the technology for cases in the next several months.

Officers must use passwords to get into the system and sift through crime files. They can track crimes in other communities that are similar to ones they are investigating and compare incidents for similar elements, such as suspects or vehicles.

About 1,600 law enforcement agencies use the program nationally, said Robert Griffin, chief executive officer of Knowledge Computing Corp., which designed COPLINK. The Kansas City-area project will be linked to a larger, statewide COPLINK effort in Missouri, he said.

“Officers will be able to use this tactical tool to accelerate (their investigations),” Griffin said. “While it doesn’t solve crime, it’s designed to be a lead-generating tool and to give them a starting point.”

He said it’s common for suspects to go into different communities and commit similar crimes.

“Often, these guys have done something wrong before and are in the system,” Griffin said.

Overland Park, Kan., Police Chief John Douglass said officers will be able to put their crime reports to better use under the new system.

A Lawrence police spokeswoman said the agency had used COPLINK in tandem with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office for three years. Lawrence police began using the program five year ago, but no further information was available.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office was also unable to comment.