In addition to balancing its obligations to the state enterprise and to the criminal justice community, Pennsylvania's Justice Network (JNET) must keep in mind the needs of the many constituents who use its services. The official conduits for input from local users are the steering committee's two at-large members - Eric Radnovich, director of justice services at the Cumberland County District Attorney's Office, and Phil Damiani, director of the Office of Court Services in Delaware County. 

At one time, the steering committee included only officials from state agencies. "They did a good job of representing the locals. But they didn't have a local perspective," Radnovich said. "You can't really represent what I need and what I want unless you actually do the job."

Radnovich, Damiani and a couple of other local users were frequently invited to steering committee meetings to make presentations on county and municipal interests. "And somebody just said, â??Why don't we make them part of the steering committee?'" Radnovich said. "So they changed the governance structure and, presto! Here I am."

Damiani runs Delaware County's forensics lab and other labs, its crime scene unit and its criminal justice IT network. He represents his county and its municipalities when the steering committee talks about content for JNET. "We also reflect needs as they pertain to network connectivity," he said. Both he and Radnovich also serve as liaisons between other counties and the steering committee.

JNET has done a good job of responding to local needs, Radnovich said. "That's a big step, because it's a state-run operation, and they pay the bill. It would be easy for them to just say, â??It's our operation; you guys are the beneficiaries, so shut up.' It hasn't been that way."

Will local governments one day play an even greater role in JNET? "That's actually an item that we're wrestling with today," said Kristen Miller, Pennsylvania's CIO.

Right now, not all counties and municipalities are in a position to take greater advantage of JNET, she pointed out. "In many of our local governments, the local IT infrastructure is not necessarily in place to further expand JNET's reach or JNET's information sharing within their own county or township." Some local governments are using grants from state agencies to beef up their infrastructure in ways that will allow them to make better use of JNET.