Office of the Attorney General
Attorney General Conway Launches Electronic Warrant System in the 21st Judicial Circuit

Attorney General Jack Conway today announced that his office has completed implementation of an electronic warrant management system (eWarrants) in the 21st Judicial Circuit (Bath, Menifee, Montgomery and Rowan counties). This brings to 61 the number of counties that have received the eWarrant system under a $3.9 million American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) grant awarded to the Office of the Attorney General in 2009.

"This week's successful launch in the 21st Judicial Circuit means nearly 67,000 more Kentuckians will be covered by eWarrants," said General Conway. "Statewide, nearly 2.65 million Kentuckians, or nearly 62% of the state's population now live in counties with eWarrants."

Working with local officials in the 21st 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.

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. There are more than 420,000 warrants/ summons in the eWarrants system, including urban areas not covered by the ARRA grant.

"I believe eWarrants will alleviate the longstanding problems counties across Kentucky have experienced with lost or un-served warrants due to a non-computerized warrant management system," said Kevin Cockrell, Montgomery County Attorney. "Those of us involved in the criminal justice system are pleased to have a more efficient and effective process for securing and serving arrest warrants and summons."

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 21st 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.