GOVERNOR MALLOY: INVESTMENT IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE TECHNOLOGIES WILL ENHANCE PUBLIC SAFETY, SAVE STATE MONEY

(HARTFORD, CT) - Governor Dannel P. Malloy today announced that allocations for major upgrades to the state's criminal justice system included in next week's state bond commission agenda will make significant strides toward increasing public safety and security while reducing expenses through greater efficiencies.

The Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS), the centerpiece of the criminal justice reform package approved by the General Assembly in 2008, will begin a much needed process of allowing criminal justice professionals from different agencies and branches of government to begin instantly sharing files and information on offenders electronically instead of transporting paper documents.

"These critical reforms were the result of input from the state's top police, prosecutors, victim advocates and others who were asked what tools they needed to send repeat violent offenders to prison for as long as possible," said Governor Malloy. "Not only will it have a public safety impact by increasing the ability for crime officials to send files to each other, but after its implementation will begin saving the state money through efficiencies - a great example of how the state can do more with less."

"Implementation of the system will allow police, court officials, prosecutors, probation and parole officers, and prison administrators to create a centralized database on offenders - including electronic files such as audio and video - that can be instantly updated, accessed and utilized when officials need to make important decisions on the fate of offenders as they move through the system," said Mike Lawlor, who serves as Undersecretary for Criminal Justice Policy and Planning and was appointed last week by Governor Malloy to serve as co-chairman of the CJIS Governing Board. "Giving one hand the ability to know what the other is doing is critical when dealing with offenders, and we must provide our state's frontline criminal justice professionals the tools to ensure that the system works to its greatest ability."

A separate amount of $15 million is also on the bond agenda to replace the 30-year-old computerized Inmate Tracking System at the Department of Corrections, allowing agency officials to electronically keep track of inmates' risk assessments, movements, violations, mental health status, and other necessary items to monitor.

"The infrastructure to modernize the woefully outdated, inadequate system of documenting these types of criminal files is long overdue and over the long-term will create the kinds of efficiencies that we need to begin making in state government," Governor Malloy said.

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For Immediate Release: January 27, 2011
Contact: David Bednarz
David.Bednarz@ct.gov
860-524-7315 (office)
860-770-9792 (cell)

Twitter: @GovMalloyOffice
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