KY- State adds technology programs to track criminal offenders (beyond sex offenders)

9-27-2008 Kentucky:

FRANKFORT — Kentucky is going to spend approximately half a million dollars to expand its data base of criminal offenders and provide victims and the public “real time” information when they are released.

“Public safety neither begins nor ends with locking up criminals,” Gov. Steve Beshear said. “Being tough on crime isn’t enough; the bottom line is we have to remain vigilant 24/7.”

The state will contract with APPRISS, a Louisville firm, to consolidate some existing contracts in the Justice Cabinet and add data bases tracking sex offenders and former inmates, providing real time notification to crime victims when their attackers are released from jail or prison and to alert pharmacists when customers attempt to buy psuedoephedrine to produce meth.

Beshear has dubbed the program “Public Safety First.”

Justice Secretary J. Michael Brown said the additional cost is between $400,000 and $500,000 a year on top of the approximately $1 million in current contracts with APRISS. He said savings in other areas will make up for the additional costs.

Brown said the new technology will benefit the state as well as victims. Previously the state’s data system wasn’t designed to track inmates and offenders except while they’re under the control of the Department of Corrections. Beginning the first of the year, the state will be able to track former inmates when they reoffend or re-enter the criminal justice system.

Victims and the public will have access to Web sites which will show where sex offenders live and alerts law enforcement when they are arrested or jailed. It will also allow domestic violence victims to be notified when their attackers have been served with protective orders – a time when victims are statistically at greater risk for attack.

The Justice Cabinet and Department of Corrections will also automatically be notified when former inmates are rearrested and booked into county jails.

The state will also extend MethCheck, a computer program which can alert pharmacists immediately if a customer is trying to violate state laws governing sale of over-the-counter drugs used in the manufacture of meth.

According to Doug Cobb, CEO of APRISS, the program recorded 261,251 pharmaceutical transactions in the first 90 days it operated, and 4,412 of those were blocked. Most were individuals trying to make multiple purchases in the same day. The law limiting purchases of meth “pre-cursors” and tracking purchases are credited with lowering the number of meth labs in the state by about a third.

Finally, the additional technology will allow law enforcement, child support and state investigative agencies to access a nationwide offender data base to track who is in or out of jail, even in other states.

Brown said moving all the existing contracts – some with agencies like Kentucky State Police and Homeland Security – under one umbrella under the Justice Cabinet will save money and increase their effectiveness. ..News Source.. by RONNIE ELLIS writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort.