Computer Network Will Link Courts, Jails, Police, Prison

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) -- Soon, police around New Hampshire will be able to type a suspect's name and date of birth into a computer and instantly pull up his criminal history, any outstanding arrest warrants, probation status and restraining orders against him.

While some of that information is available in separate databases now, the One Network Environment for Justice (J-ONE) system will link the courts, state and local police, county jails and sheriffs, and the state departments of Corrections and Safety in one statewide computer network.

The J-ONE system will save time and money, and could even save lives, said state Rep. David Welch, chairman of the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee.

"It would prevent someone from being released from the county jail when they're wanted on a bench warrant in the next county,'' said Welch, R-Kingston.

It also would show a police officer doing a roadside stop and running a driver's license check whether the driver was on probation or parole, or wanted for a crime, Welch said.

The system is now being tested by the Bow and Hillsborough police and State Police Troop D in Concord, who are sending their criminal complaints to Concord District Court through the J-ONE network.

If state and federal funding continues to support it, the whole state should be wired in four or five years, Department of Safety officials said.

The man behind J-ONE is state police Maj. Fred Booth, who believes it is the most comprehensive project in the country linking the courts, corrections, parole and probation with law enforcement.

"It's a pretty ambitious project,'' Booth said.

While domestic violence restraining orders, probation or parole status and arrest warrants are already available through the State Police Online Transaction System, or SPOTS, some local police departments and county sheriffs are not linked, and many still submit their reports on paper.

Also, the information is on separate agency databases that an investigator must search one at a time, Booth said. J-ONE will combine the information in a single database and search engine.

That will allow the courts and police to update a single record, saving time and money, Booth said. Right now, information on one individual has to be entered over and over again as he moves through the criminal justice system from arrest to court, to corrections, back to court, and to parole.

One gap in the current system helped a convicted drug kingpin escape from the minimum-security unit of the state prison last year.

Angel Roldan, 23, of Nashua, walked off the prison grounds Sept. 22, 2002, and jumped into a car driven by a woman who had just been visiting another prisoner. He was recaptured several minutes later.

Corrections officials said Roldan was mistakenly housed in minimum security because he was nearing the end of a short sentence for conduct after an accident. Although the prison had received paper documents on Roldan's drug kingpin conviction, the information had not been entered into the agency's computer database.

Similar problems plague the SPOTS network. While all police departments are supposed to report their arrest information for posting on SPOTS, there are frequent delays and omissions, Booth said.

"Some agencies may send it in immediately, others may take a month, with some it gets lost and never gets here. (J-ONE) would close the gap tremendously,'' he said.

At the Bow police department, administrative assistant Gale Horton types up the arrest reports. When she's done, she clicks one button marked "Submit to J-ONE'' and that's it -- the data goes to the nascent network.