Criminal Justice Seminar Unites Representatives
A free seminar for South Carolina criminal justice personnel garnered praise for demonstrating systems that can increase public safety by improving criminal records management throughout the state. Held on June 23 at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, the Criminal Justice Records Improvement Program seminar was attended not only by sheriffs, police officers, detectives, jail administrators, and clerks of court, but by State Law Enforcement Division agents, S.C. Department of Corrections administrators, S.C. Judicial Department personnel, and S.C. Sheriffs Association representatives.
After an introduction by ASG Director Joseph Johnson, participants broke into individual classes, choosing from introductory courses in records management systems and database design, to detailed question and answer sessions for criminal justice systems developed by ASG. Hands-on training also was offered in interactive PC classes.
The seminar was highlighted by presentations of web systems developed by ASG to improve criminal records management and victim services. The first system demonstrated was SCI-CRIS, developed by ASG to bring together public criminal records from across the state into one highly secure web site for criminal justice research. Observers learned how SCI-CRIS can be used to search current and historical records, not only to improve efficiency of handling criminal cases, but also to offer better protection to justice employees, victims of crime, and other members of the general public. The seminar also demonstrated IVIS, developed by ASG to provide fast, automatic notification to victims of crime. Because IVIS is being linked to SCI-CRIS to speed the notification process, many agency representatives expressed interest in using both systems.
The seminar was capped by an announcement from Jeffrey Moore, Director of the S.C. Sheriffs Association. Moore stated that a new law had just passed the S.C. legislature requiring all detention facilities in South Carolina to report inmate and other criminal justice data to the state Department of Corrections "to facilitate the operation of a statewide jail information system." The simplest method for most agencies to report this information is through electronic submission of data maintained by a department's records management system to SCI-CRIS.
