Title of Nomination: The Pennsylvania Justice Network Project/System Manager: Linda Rosenberg Title: Executive Director Agency: Office for

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1 Title of Nomination: The Pennsylvania Justice Network Project/System Manager: Linda Rosenberg Title: Executive Director Agency: Office for Information Technology Department: Office of Administration Address: 5 Technology Park - City: Harrisburg State: PA Zip: Phone: Fax: lrosenberg@state.pa.us CATEGORY: Digital_Government_G_to_G Person Nominating (if different): Robert Bunty Title: Information Technology Consultant Address: 209 Finance Building City: Harrisburg State: PA Zip: Phone: Fax: rbunty@state.pa.us

2 Application for NASCIO Recognition Award Category: Digital Government: Government to Government The Pennsylvania Justice Network (JNET) A. Description of project, including length of time in operation. When entering office in 1995, former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge called upon members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly to hold a Special Legislative Session on Crime to determine how the state s criminal justice system could be improved and public safety enhanced. Following the Session, the Governor recommended and the General Assembly approved funding and resources to support development of an integrated justice system. The solution is JNET, a browser-based, multi-agency, integrated system that provides federal, state, county, and local officials access to offender records and other justice information from 17 participating agencies and 22 counties across the state. It does so by linking information from diverse hardware and software platforms under a common, web-browser interface. As such, JNET is a secure virtual single system for sharing justice information by authorized users. Previous attempts at integrating disparate justice systems failed because of a lack of funding and support. As a result, they were confronted with a fragmented justice environment in which information took days or weeks to get to the appropriate agencies. Because each justice agency has its own legacy data system with its own processes in place, they could not support one centralized data system for the entire Commonwealth. Even deciding on a common vocabulary and data elements proved to be difficult. Under JNET, entities maintain their legacy systems and control over the data they contribute. B. Significance to the improvement of the operation of government. JNET gives users instant access to criminal justice records and photos. An integrated single system for justice information reduces the cost of government, while giving authorized users access to the same information in a timely manner. Not only does a single system reduce costs, a single point of entry for information also reduces errors. Through the use of digital certificates, JNET validates more than 5,000 system users, offering them round-the-clock access to justice data contributed by

3 participating agencies and counties. Users range from local law enforcement to criminal justice research organizations from federal, state, and local levels. Continued enhancements and expansions are made in response to needs expressed by users. These include addition of several query and lookup tool capabilities available to all qualified users, including: A secure messaging functionality can alert subscribing users to events of interest, such as an arrest or the issuance of a Protection from Abuse order on a particular individual. Search of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation photo database -- Enables law enforcement to locate and apprehend a suspect based upon identification obtained from a driver license photo; Justice Data Flexible Search -- enables users to search for an individual based upon a name, date of birth or state identification. Results could include applicable records from multiple agencies, such as the PA Department of Corrections, State Police and Pennsylvania Courts. Information access includes District Justice case list, Sentence information and digital mug shots; Juvenile Inquiry -- Users with appropriate access can search for details on juveniles, including warrants, dispositions, address histories, or referral information on a particular youth; and, Case File Transfer -- Provides a way to transfer information, such as disposition messages, between participating agencies in a timely, secure and flexible manner, and serves to integrate independent agency applications. The JNET Driver License search application is responsible for several significant achievements and success stories, including: FBI reveals photos of hijacking suspects from 9/11/01; Officer identifies a suspect with a stolen identity; Drug Task Force identifies suspects; Philadelphia Police department solves 21-year-old homicide; State Police identify a rape suspect with a driver photo; County personnel apprehend a suspect wanted for multiple armed robberies; A State Police elite team use photos and information on hostage takers in a murder, rape and robbery stand-off; and, State Police and FBI use PennDOT photos during a search for a bus and bus driver during a kidnapping incident involving several students.

4 The JNET Notification application is also responsible for significant achievements, such as: Alerting the PA Department of Corrections to a Want issued in New York for a suspected terrorist; and, Notifying the State Board of Pardons that an individual applying for a pardon has been arrested on other charges. C. Benefits realized by Service recipients The JNET strategic vision identifies many of the problems its founders were seeking to solve: to enhance public safety through the integration of criminal justice information throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by adopting business practices which promote cost-effectiveness, information sharing and timely and appropriate access to information while recognizing the independence of each agency. The direct benefit to the citizens of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is safer communities, because JNET provides law enforcement officers with immediate access to critical criminal justice information, which helps them to perform their jobs more effectively. The availability of information enabling officers in the field to identify and apprehend suspected individuals, solve cases faster, and consequently keep criminals off the street is priceless. Benefits also include reduced costs associated with defendant and offender processing; reduced delays in processing criminal cases, and minimized risk of releasing offenders who could pose a public threat. JNET has improved prosecution efforts and reduced delays through timely access to case information. The availability of photos through JNET has also been used to prevent innocent people from being arrested due to misidentification. D. Return on investment, short term/long term payback (include summary calculations). Projects must show measurable operational benefit. The Pennsylvania Justice Network could be replicated in other states or at the federal level. At a recent National Governor s Conference on Integrated Justice, it was suggested that JNET could be the model for the entire country. Currently, many other states are interested in creating similar systems for their states. The

5 system links municipal, county and state criminal justice systems and will eventually be accessed by several federal agencies. The solution could be replicated by other states or at a federal level because it is based on open Internet/World Wide Web technologies and standards. Since JNET utilizes web-based technologies it requires an investment in hardware and software, while providing an architecture that can be replicated by other state, county, and local criminal justice systems. Funding for JNET includes $15 million in State funds and $3 million in Federal funds. But, in the end, improvements that enhance public safety are difficult to quantify in terms of dollars and cents. In the case of JNET, improvements literally can mean the difference between life and death. Enhancements were incorporated into the JNET initiative following the death of a local police officer murdered while responding to a robbery. Many JNET participants identify this tragic event as the driving force behind creation of the program because it was a tragedy that could have been prevented. The shooter in the crime had a number of previous arrests in Pennsylvania under at least six different names, and he had, as recently as five days prior to the shooting, been picked up on a parole violation in central Pennsylvania and released on bail. Features now available in the JNET system could have alerted law enforcement officials to the shooter s criminal record, his use of aliases, and could have prevented him from committing this heinous crime.