States Get Grants to Connect Justice Systems

The Department of Justice will award about $16 million to 26 states to help them integrate information networks that allow police and courts to share crime-related data, the department announced July 23.

To receive the funding, the states had to agree to undertake projects that would lead directly to justice information sharing within two years, according to the National Governors Association, which played a key role in the approval process.

The grants range from $40,000 to $1 million and will be administered by the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Assistance.

A fully integrated justice system would allow law enforcement officers to put information, such as arrest reports, booking information, electronic fingerprints and mug shots, into a network that would be accessible to prosecutors, corrections officers and parole officers.

Total spending by state and local governments for IT-related to criminal justice will increase at an average annual growth rate of 8.5 percent from $3.96 billion in 2001 to $5.49 billion in 2005, according to Gartner Dataquest of Stamford, Conn.

The justice integration initiative began a year ago when the federal government awarded a $2.3 million project grant to the NGA's Center for Best Practices. In turn, the NGA gave 42 states $25,000 each to develop strategic plans and performance measures for integrating their information sharing networks.

To receive additional federal funding, states had to submit project proposals that contributed directly to justice information sharing that could attained within two years.

The proposals were reviewed by the NGA of Washington; the National Association of State Chief Information Officers of Lexington, Ky.; and the National Center for State Courts of Arlington, Va. The groups then made their recommendations to the Justice Department.

The funding will allow states to take computerized criminal history systems, automated fingerprint identification systems and other systems that exist and integrate them, said Thom Rubel, NGA's program director for state information technology.

"It's really not about the technology," he said. "The technological solutions already exist. The goal here is to integrate all the different systems."