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Office of the Attorney General
Attorney General’s Office, Kentucky Office Of Homeland Security Launch Ewarrant System in the 12th Judicial Circuit
Attorney General Jack Conway and the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security jointly announce today the successful implementation of an electronic warrant management system (eWarrants) in the 12th Judicial Circuit (Henry, Trimble and Oldham counties). The Attorney General’s office funded implementation of eWarrants in Henry and Trimble, both rural counties, under a $3.9 million American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) grant awarded to the Office of the Attorney General in 2009. The Office of Homeland Security launched eWarrants in Oldham County, an urban area that is not covered by the ARRA grant.
With the successful launch of eWarrants in the 12th Judicial Circuit, more than half of Kentucky’s counties now have access to eWarrants.
"This is an important milestone for the eWarrant program and for communities across the Commonwealth," said General Conway. "We now have nearly 2.5 million Kentuckians, or 58 percent of the state’s population, living in counties covered by eWarrants. I appreciate the continued support of our partners, as well as local law enforcement, judges and prosecutors."
This brings to 51 the number of counties that have received the eWarrant system under the ARRA grant. A total of 61 counties, which includes urban areas not covered by the grant, are now served by eWarrants. The goal is to implement eWarrants in 100 of Kentucky’s rural counties by year’s end.
Working with local officials in the 12th judicial circuit, the Office of the Attorney General, in partnership with the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC), the Kentucky State Police, the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security and Open Portal Solutions, Inc., provided training and support for the new system.
The eWarrant system facilitates the sharing of information among all law enforcement concerning active warrants in jurisdictions throughout the Commonwealth. It replaces the manual protocols for processing warrant information with an electronic method for making warrants available via the Law Enforcement Information Network of Kentucky (LINK), the system administered by Kentucky State Police and used by law enforcement to transmit and retrieve information on active warrants.
Since the first roll-out of eWarrants under the ARRA grant in October 2010, more than 14,000 unserved warrants have either been served or recalled in rural areas. System-wide, more than 230,000 warrants have either been served or recalled.
"The backlog of unserved warrants has been a concern for years," said Barry Moore, Commonwealth’s Attorney for the 12th Judicial Circuit, who also serves as President of the Commonwealth’s Attorneys’ Association. "eWarrants will make it easier for law enforcement to track outstanding warrants and to serve new warrants. We are all very enthusiastic about the program."
Service rates for warrants rise from as low as 10% under the old system to roughly 50% immediately after implementation of eWarrants, and as high as 80% in the long-term.
Kentucky's eWarrant system began as a pilot project in 2005 to address a backlog of nearly 300,000 un-served warrants in the state. A backlog in the service of warrants, or a misplaced or lost warrant, could allow a person charged with a violent crime to evade arrest and continue to victimize Kentucky citizens.
The ARRA grant, which provided funding for implementation and training in the 12th judicial circuit, was awarded from the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance under the category of Facilitating Rural Justice Information Sharing. Under this category, the Bureau of Justice Assistance makes awards to help law enforcement in rural areas to improve the criminal justice system by aiding communities in combating crime and drugs.
The eWarrant program is being offered to Kentucky’s rural counties at no cost to local communities. In addition to modernizing law enforcement infrastructure, the ARRA grant has created 16 jobs for citizens of the Commonwealth. Individuals may obtain more information about eWarrants by filling out the eWarrant contact form on the Attorney’s General’s website, at http://ag.ky.gov/ewarrants
* This project was supported by award No. 2009-SD-B9-0067, awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs. The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice.
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