Leahy Secures Funds
For Major Tech Upgrade
By Vermont’s Criminal Justice Agencies

(MONDAY, Oct. 6) – The Vermont Department of Public Safety will receive $993,500 from the Department of Justice (DOJ) to integrate its statewide data sharing  system, Sen. Patrick Leahy announced Monday.  Leahy, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, secured the funds – which have been a high priority for the Public Safety Department -- in an earmark in the Justice Department’s annual budget bill earlier this year.  Leahy’s earmark for Vermont has not previously been announced.  He made the announcement as the Justice Department prepared to release the funds.

The Department of Public Safety will use the funds to integrate the state’s justice information system and to standardize data allowing the secure and timely transmission of critical information throughout Vermont’s justice-affiliated agencies.  Vermont’s state’s attorneys will be able to use the new system to create a more secure and standardized case management system. 

“Technology is helping to improve the efficiency, the effectiveness and the accessibility of our criminal justice system,” said Leahy.  “These funds will help Vermont achieve those benefits.  This also will help us take advantage of statewide information sharing to help catch criminals faster and to make sure a suspect’s records are readily available and easily searchable when needed.”  Leahy is a former prosecutor and also is the ranking Democratic member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over the Department of Justice and its programs.

Leahy also announced Monday that the Department of Public Safety is getting a $602,959 grant from the Department of Justice’s National Criminal History Improvement Program (NCHIP), which Leahy and Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) authored as part of the Crime Identification Technology Act of 1998.  Leahy’s $993,500 earmark for Vermont and the $602,959 grant together total $1,596,459.

The Vermont Office of the Court Administrator will use a portion of the funds to update and maintain more accurate and timely court records.  The Department of Public Safety will use the funds to respond to an increase in fingerprint submissions and an increase in requests for criminal background checks, for updating and monitoring of the sex offender and protection order databases, to upgrade technological infrastructure, and to improve data availability.

Since 1998, Vermont has received a total of $3,638,729 in NCHIP grants to upgrade criminal history and criminal justice record systems, improve criminal justice identification, promote compatibility and integration of national, state and local systems, and obtain information for statistical and research purposes to improve the administration of criminal justice. 

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