Lenoir City Police Department may soon have an innovative investigation tool under its belt.

Lenoir City Council waived a green flag Monday in approval of a contract with CLEAR Services database, a "next generation" tool that allows officers to dig deeper into the criminal element, Sgt. Jason Butler said.

The database pulls from various resources - driver's license, vehicle registrations, criminal history past, "... anywhere they have ever lived or used their Social Security number such as obtaining a credit card, etc.," Butler said.

The department now must be authorized to use the service.

"We don't have anything right now to be able to say target A moves to Lenoir City," Butler said. "I get a little bit of information from them. Well, I need to be able to connect the dots and be able to say that target A is connected to four houses in Lenoir City and here are the residences. I need to go set up surveillance and establish surveillance and be able to try to connect the dots.

"We have no way of doing that right now instead of just regular going out and putting hard man hours into sitting and watching somebody and taking the risk," he said. "We can sit in the office now and be able to pull criminal histories. We can pull histories about people and know exactly where they've lived in the past and basically every move they've made."

Currently, law enforcement relies on driver's license and background checks through municipal court to investigate, according to Butler.

"We're in dire need of it. Something like this has to happen. Like I said, I can attest that this service is excellent," he said.

The cost is $150 a month and will be financed by the police department's drug fund.

In other business, council:

● Announced a bone marrow drive Sept. 29 at Highland Park Baptist Church.

● Approved the purchasing committee's recommendation to declare a Parks and Recreation mower as surplus property.

● Approved the purchasing committee's recommendation to declare four street department vehicles as surplus property.

● Approved a first reading of an ordinance to establish a three-way stop sign at the Sharp Drive and Carrington Boulevard intersection in the Sharp Estates subdivision.