Overview

The goal of this project is to  share information electronically among the criminal justice agencies in the Cordele Judicial Circuit in Georgia, which is comprised of Crisp, Ben Hill, Wilcox and Dooly counties. Criminal Justice Data Integration improves the accuracy of criminal justice records, and more importantly, it improves the efficiency and speed of the criminal justice process by allowing each agency to maximize its resources.
About Criminal Justice Data Integration

Many Criminal justice agencies across the country rely on records management software to organize and track vast amounts of information. These agencies work together and share vital information every day. However, because the computer systems they rely on do not communicate with each other, the information exchange that happens is slow and prone to error.

Until recently, the only solution to such a problem was to put all criminal justice agencies on a single computer system. Now, however, thanks to the development of XML and other Web technologies, these disparate computer systems can be linked in order to exchange informaition while maintaining their integrity.

Integration in Crisp County

The Cordele Circuit project is unique in many respects. First, it is one of a the few integration projects that seeks to involve all pertinent players in the criminal justice system. Many projects have designed data exchanges among law enforcement agencies, or among court officers. However, the Cordele Circuit project has designed a system to integrate the courts, the District Attorney's, the public defenders, and law enforcement, thus improving the entire criminal justice process.

Second, the Cordele Circuit project has been intentionally kept small. Project organizers realize that integration projects are difficult, and notoriously prone to failure. But the Crisp County project has been kept small to avoid some of the bureaucratic entanglements that so often inhibit these projects. Project leaders are determined to show success on a small scale, and then to build from there. The project began in Crisp County where a demonstration system was developed and put in place. Now that the system has proved its viability, the demonstration system will be converted into a full production system and that system will be implemented in Ben Hill, Wilcox and Dooly counties, thus  bringing the entire Cordele Circuit online with data exchange. This project will then serve as a model for other counties and circuits as they plan similar integration projects.

Integration Details

As in any integration project, the first step for the Crisp County system was to identify the most crucial information exchanges that already exist. This was accomplished using the JIEM modeling tool provided by Search, Inc.

JIEM modeling revealed what project organizers believed; that the Warrant is the crucial document in Crisp County. Arrest warrants involve all the participants in the Criminal Justice System, and entering the same data in each agencies computer system eats up valuable resources.

Therefore, the Crisp County system will automate the arrest warrant process. Courts will have real time access incident report information. Law enforcement will automatically receive warrants as the court issues them.

In addition, court officers, District Attorneys and Public Defenders will receive notification of arrests that are made, as well as up-to-date jail lists.