2004 INNOVATIONS AWARDS PROGRAM Application Form

Transcription

1 1. Program Name: ejusticeny 2004 INNOVATIONS AWARDS PROGRAM Application Form 2. Administering Agency: New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) 3. Contact Person (Name and Title): Martin Cirincione, Executive Deputy Commissioner 4. Address: 4 Tower Place, Albany, NY Telephone Number: (518) FAX Number: (518) Address: martin.cirincione@dcjs.state.ny.us 8. Web site Address: 9. Please provide a two-sentence description of the program: ejusticeny is a browser-based portal designed to give the criminal justice community a single point of access to computerized criminal justice information within and beyond New York State. It is the mission of the program to improve the administration of justice by insuring that data needed to support criminal justice is available when and where it is needed through a single portal. 10. How long has this program been operational (month and year)? ejusticeny has been operational since its introduction in May

2 11. Why was the program created? (What problem[s] or issue[s] was it designed to address?) As part of the New York State Executive Department, the Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) is the agency of State government responsible for maintaining New York State s Central Repository of criminal case records, and for providing criminal history and statistical information to the State and local agencies and courts which make up New York s criminal justice system. DCJS has been engaged in several technology initiatives intended to modernize and improve the ability to provide critical information services to the State s criminal justice agencies. The most ambitious of these initiatives has been the DCJS Systems Migration Project, a comprehensive software development project which will provide enhanced criminal justice functionality and data quality from a redesigned New York State Computerized Criminal History (CCH) system. Early in the Systems Migration Project, in an effort to identify the architectural and infrastructure requirements of an improved criminal history system, the Project Team held a series of meetings with the DCJS customer community, including several large conferences with the agency s external customers. Suggestions for system changes and enhancements were proposed in over fifty different categories, and have since been analyzed and transformed into design concepts for the range of information management functions that are being built into the new criminal history system. Customers identified areas where additional data collection and dissemination was particularly important, and advocated the collection and dissemination of photo images, in particular the distribution of mugshots, with requested criminal history records and wanted person notices. Other recommendations included making use of criminal case information centralized at DCJS to improve the ability of DCJS and local authorities to analyze cross-jurisdictional crime trends and conduct sophisticated criminal justice policy analysis. Of paramount importance to all, however, was the need for a more accessible criminal history system at DCJS that was capable of providing more information, from a broader array of resources, for criminal justice practitioners in the field. 12. Describe the specific activities and operations of the program in chronological order: ejusticeny has been refined into two logical components; the ejusticeny Portal and ejusticeny Messaging. The more visible of the two is the ejusticeny Portal, a collection of criminal justice information services, organized into distinct Service Suites which can be accessed via web browsers over a secure extranet. Each of the Suites is security based with levels of access that can be tailored for each agency and individual user. Currently, the Suites available through ejusticeny include: 2

3 NYS Criminal Justice Repository: This Suite includes access to the New York State Computerized Criminal History(CCH), Wanted and Missing Persons data, the FBI's National Crime Information Center (NCIC) Person files and the FBI's Interstate Identification Index (III). These data sources can be accessed using Search and Inquiry functions. NYS Crime Mapping System: The New York State Crime Mapping System allows law enforcement agencies access to cross-jurisdictional data to create maps for crime analysis. Local law enforcement agencies provide DCJS with the necessary incident and arrest data. The data is then compiled, maintained, combined with information from other agencies, and ultimately integrated into the mapping software. Based on such previously submitted data, investigative personnel can perform crime related queries that return map images of crime patterns. Users are able to view the plots of their data simultaneously with those of any available contextual data including sex offenders, probationers and parolees, or shots fired. Also available are thematic mapping tools, an address locator, a distance tool, and various layers allowing more complex analyses. NYS Sex Offender Registry: ejusticeny provides convenient access to the New York State Sex Offender Registry for authorized criminal justice agencies. The Registry contains information on sex offenders classified according to their risk of re-offending: low-risk (Level 1), moderate-risk (Level 2) and high-risk (Level 3). Queries can be made using any combination of name, county and zip code. Civil Transactions: This feature provides searches and inquiries for civil fingerprint transactions which are in process or which have been completed. Criminal Transactions: This feature provides searches and inquiries for criminal fingerprint transactions which are in process or which have been completed. Support Services: This Suite is designed to enhance the criminal justice community's access to existing published DCJS information and services. Support Services is arranged by topical areas, each of which expands to show the options available within that topic. Agency Administration: Administration is a service reserved for each agency's designated Service Access Coordinator (SAC). OPS Advisories: This Suite has an ordered archive of all Security/Terrorism advisories which have been issued by the New York State Office of Public Security (OPS) since the Office was created in October Upon entering the Suite, the most recent advisory is displayed along with a menu frame containing an ordered list of all of the historically issued advisories. 3

4 Operation Spotlight Report: This Report was designed for the New York City Police Department to capture information on individuals recently arrested in New York City who fit the criteria for Persistent Misdemeanant, or who have satisfied the criteria for Persistent Misdemeanant based on a criminal history for the immediate past twelve months. Law Enforcement: This Suite contains useful information regarding Law Enforcement services, training, and topics. Much of the included information is law enforcement sensitive, and is intended for use only by those to whom specific access rights have been granted. Items within this Suite include best practices for law enforcement agencies, technical information about speed and alcohol detection instruments, and information on various aspects of DCJS police training. Intelligence Services: This suite is being developed to meet the investigative needs of our criminal justice community. The application that has been developed thus far allows a user to determine whether any other criminal justice practitioner has inquired on the person they are investigating. The other logical component on ejusticeny is ejusticeny Messaging. ejusticeny Messaging is the information processing and delivery system supporting ejusticeny Portal. Features of this service include, but are not limited to: Personal and agency In-Boxes which accommodate all ejusticeny services and integrates ejusticeny with the DCJS fingerprint identification process. Delivery of fingerprint-based rap sheets, for both criminal and civil transactions, to agency In-Boxes. Separate, real-time rap deliveries can be made to the arresting agency, court of arraignment and district attorney. Delivery of arrest notifications to the In-Boxes of supervision and license and employment oversight agencies, and to law enforcement agencies seeking to locate wanted persons. Also allows for delivery of notifications to probation and parole when corrections admission transactions are processed. Routing batch request responses to the requesting individual s personal in-box. 4

5 13. Why is the program a new and creative approach or method? ejusticeny represents both (1) a new and more efficient information delivery mechanism for the principal decision makers in the criminal justice process, and (2) a collection of new data management applications which, together, have improved the ability of New York s criminal justice system to provide public safety to the community. Criminal history rapsheets, based on the fingerprint identification of an individual arrested on criminal charges, have long been, and remain, the primary source of background information for a criminal defendant as he or she moves through the system, though delivery of the rapsheet to all participants in the criminal justice process has not always been timely or uniform. The traditional delivery of the rapsheet is now supplemented by immediate, and relatively easy, access to criminal history and related information through ejusticeny, whenever the information is needed. The initial arraignment of a criminal defendant is a particularly appropriate example of a key decision point in the criminal justice process when immediate access to the most current information is critical. A judge must decide if the individual can be released to the community, or detained to ensure his or her appearance at subsequent court proceedings. The court s ability to use ejusticeny to obtain the most current information regarding the individual s status, both within and beyond New York State, including whether or not the individual is wanted in another jurisdiction, and to do so by a simple, and secure, inquiry from an office personal computer, helps ensure that the decision is sound and the interests of public safety are well served. 14. What were the program s start-up costs? (Provide details about specific purchases for this program, staffing needs and other financial expenditures, as well as existing materials, technology and staff already in place.) The "start-up" period for this major enterprise-wide information systems project spanned a period of approximately three years from May 1995 through June 1996, when the system first went into production. Costs associated with this start-up period are estimated at $6,800,000. This estimate includes the cost for staffing, including fringe benefits and indirect costs; purchase of computer hardware, including such items as servers, personal computers and networking equipment; contractual services, including various software products, training and limited consulting services; project supplies; and travel. 5

6 15. What are the program s annual operational costs? The annual operating costs for ejusticeny are estimated to be $1,475,000. This estimation includes the cost for project staff, hardware and software maintenance or upgrades, training, supplies and travel. 16. How is the program funded? A combination of State and Federal funds are used to support ejusticeny. State general revenue funds are used to support on-going operating costs. Technology development and application support, including system enhancements are primarily funded by federal grant awards to New York State from the U.S. Department of Justice for the following: National Criminal History Records Improvement Program, Edward Byrne Memorial Grant Program: five-percent set-aside portion for Criminal Justice Records Improvement, and the Justice Information Technology Integration Implementation Program. 17. Did this program require the passage of legislation, executive order or regulations? If YES, please indicate the citation number. Not applicable. 18. What equipment, technology and software are used to operate and administer this program? In contrast to more traditional methods of creating new systems, the ejusticeny Project Team adopted the object oriented methodology and iterative approach to analysis, design and application development. One advantage of this methodology is that objects, once defined by class, data elements and behavior, can be re-used and thus contribute to more rapid application development, not only within the confines of ejusticeny, but in the development of other DCJS applications, including the 2001 redesign of the New York State Sex Offender Registry. This methodology begins with the creation of context diagrams, which become the initial scope-defining documents for the application, then proceeds to use cases, definition of business rules and more detailed process scenarios. Each scenario is highly detailed, incorporating all main line business flows and exception processing. The successive development of use cases and process scenarios further refines the scope of the application. Class diagrams are created and refined and scenario 6

7 diagrams, or message trace diagrams, are developed. The schedule of progressive application development is produced by creating a series of iterations that develop the designed scenarios. Rational s Rose product, a visual modeling tool designed to support modeling of object oriented system requirements and business processes, was used for documenting the business requirements of ejusticeny, and Sun Microsystem s Forte tool was used as the developer language. In order to use the object-oriented methodology to build ejusticeny, staff of the Project Team received extensive training in the necessary modeling tools and developer language. In addition to comprehensive training in object oriented analysis and design, staff were trained in the use of the Rational Rose tool and the Forte language. More recently staff have been schooled in the use of the Java programming language, as ongoing efforts to enhance and improve ejusticeny requires that Project staff be competent in the most current technology. Trained Project Team members who are now experienced in the use of these technical skills have become a valuable resource for the agency, and give DCJS the capability to take on new and equally challenging technology initiatives. 19. To the best of your knowledge, did this program originate in your state? If YES, please indicate the innovator s name, present address, telephone number and address: Though similar projects did exist in other states prior to the development of ejusticeny, the specific features, functions, and details of this program are, in fact, unique to New York State. Development of ejusticeny was undertaken by a specialized team of DCJS technical staff which functioned as a discrete subgroup of the Division s on-going Systems Migration Project. The scope, goals, objectives and approximate production schedule of the ejusticeny Project were defined by agency management, based on recommendations and input from external users of DCJS information services received during the series of formal conferences hosted by DCJS. The Project Team was led by a designated Team Leader, but decisions regarding much of the detail of systems development were reached through group consensus. Throughout the development process, and user acceptance testing, the Project Team was supported by an established team of representative in-house system users, and received critically important support from other units of the DCJS Office of Justice Information Services, including those responsible for data communications and database management. One notable challenge for the Project Team was to pursue its assigned task while the need to prepare existing DCJS systems for the year 2000 date change competed for available technical resources. 7

8 20. Are you aware of similar programs in other states? If YES, which ones and how does this program differ? Criminal justice agencies throughout the United States have been making significant efforts to create integrated justice information services. Integration, however, is more of a process than a simple project. States who have fully operational systems include Kansas, Colorado, and Pennsylvania. Inability to link events in a criminal cycle has proven to be a common problem among many of the operational products. JNET, the integrated justice information system in Pennsylvania, is among the closest to ejusticeny in form and functionality. In this system, the user is returned all the arrests, courts cases and supervision data separately for a person. They are not linked - i.e. the arrest is not linked to the court case which is not linked to the correct supervision information. It is up to the user to do the linking. In ejusticeny, however, all of the criminal justice information for a complete arrest cycle is linked together so a user at a glance knows the outcome of an arrest. This arrest cycle allows ejusticeny users to receive automatic notifications without having to subscribe to a separate service. Also unique to ejusticeny is the elaborate desktop delivery system in place for the receipt of fingerprint-based rap sheets, notifications, and Sex Offender mandated letters. 21. Has the program been fully implemented? If NO, what actions remain to be taken? With the emergence of ejusticeny as the statewide portal for accessing criminal justice information, DCJS and the Division of State Police (DSP) are working together to integrate the functions of DSP s New York Statewide Police Information Network (NYSPIN) with ejusticeny. The project focuses primarily on eliminating redundant processes while maintaining alignment of applications with the agency having the highest degree of relevant expertise. Two systems which have redundant and inefficient processes, Wanted/ Missing and Probation Client Registry, are currently being redesigned with the intention of consolidating their functions with DCJS Repository processing. These will be the first updating systems available via ejusticeny. Prior to this enhancement, ejusticeny had been an inquiry-only system. Other actions to be taken include the ongoing effort to expand ejusticeny to every law enforcement agency in the State, as well as to expand the use of the crime mapping system as a crime-fighting tool statewide. 8

9 22. Briefly evaluate (pro and con) the program s effectiveness in addressing the defined problem[s] or issue[s]. Provide tangible examples. ejusticeny is both a new and more efficient information delivery mechanism for the principle decision makers in the criminal justice process, and a collection of new data management applications which, together, improve the ability of New York s criminal justice system to provide public safety to the community. Criminal History rapsheets, based on fingerprint identification of an individual arrested on criminal charges, have long been, and remain, the primary source of background information for a criminal defendant as he or she moves through the system, though delivery of the rapsheet to all participants in the process is not always timely or uniform. That resource is now supplemented by immediate, and relatively easy, access to criminal history and related information through ejusticeny, whenever information is needed. The initial arraignment of a criminal defendant is a particularly appropriate example of a key decision point in the criminal justice process when access to the most current information is critical. A judge must decide if the individual can be released into the community, or should be detained to ensure his or her appearance at subsequent court proceedings. The court s ability to use ejusticeny to obtain the most current information regarding the individual s status, both within and beyond New York State, including whether or not the individual is wanted in another jurisdiction, and to do so by a simple and secure inquiry from an office personal computer, helps ensure that the decision is sound and the interest of public safety is well served. Faster, simpler, and more efficient access to criminal history and criminal case information, and expanded opportunities to retrieve background data, have a very real value for criminal processing, and for public safety. Because access to ejusticeny requires only a relatively common personal computer and a standard web browser, the cost savings for users is a primary benefit of ejusticeny over other expensive, singlepurpose, computer-to-computer interfaces and dedicated law enforcement communication systems. 23. How has the program grown and/or changed since its inception? In the mid 1980's, the State's Director of Criminal Justice and the State Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) undertook a major initiative to assess the administration of criminal justice in New York and identify elements of the criminal justice process where the introduction of standardization and automation would yield substantial improvement in the operation of individual agencies and the effectiveness of 9

10 the system as a whole. That broad scale assessment of the criminal justice process was followed by an extensive series of detailed studies, conducted by teams of State and local criminal justice practitioners, which focused on the role of information within each component of the criminal justice system. The most significant conclusion reached in all these studies was the need for a statewide criminal justice infrastructure that could support interagency and cross-jurisdictional sharing of criminal defendant information. Building such an infrastructure would necessarily involve additional automation at both the State and local levels; and, more importantly, creation of one or more networks that would be capable of linking State and local information systems and facilitating the exchange of criminal justice data. In response to the expressed needs of New York's criminal justice practitioners, DCJS developed ejusticeny. When first introduced in late 1999, ejusticeny was primarily a web-based tool for accessing the State's Criminal History Repository. Since then, additional functions and features have been incrementally built into the system. The ongoing effort to expand and improve ejusticeny is being coordinated by the State's Integrated Justice Advisory Board. The New York State Integrated Justice Advisory Board is comprised of senior technology managers for the State's criminal justice agencies, who collectively serve to coordinate interagency technology initiatives and advise the State's Director of Criminal Justice on justice information sharing and systems integration projects. 24. What limitations or obstacles might other states expect to encounter if they attempt to adopt this program? Obstacles faced in the development and implementation of a program similar to ejusticeny might include: The amount of business process re-engineering and the time and education involved. The basic changes in technology, especially the accessibility and the associated ability to put the application on the true end-user s desk, fundamentally influence business processes. Even when there is a product which is highly desirable, the amount of time and effort involved in raising awareness and overcoming local problems can be extensive. A comprehensive network plan, especially a solution or solutions for the last mile at the local end, is essential to assist with the rollout of the application. 10

11 Add space as appropriate to this form. When complete, return to: CSG Innovations Awards 2004 The Council of State Governments 2760 Research Park Drive, P.O. Box Lexington, KY DEADLINE: All original applications must be received by April 20, 2004, to be considered for an Innovations Award for ApplicationForm04.doc 11