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Notification Service to Help Protect Florida Crime Victims

Department of Corrections launches VINE service statewide.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Crime victims in Florida will soon have rapid access to vital offender custody information by phone, day or night. The Florida Department of Corrections is deploying an Appriss victim notification service statewide.

Victim Information and Notification Everyday (VINE) gives crime victims and concerned citizens toll-free, up-to-date offender custody information, 24 hours a day. Users call a toll-free number, 1-877-VINE-4FL, to find out if an offender is in jail, and register by phone to be notified automatically when an offender is released, transferred or escapes.

Florida has joined other states that use the VINE system. Texas, New York, Illinois and Missouri are among those with statewide VINE programs.

Seven Florida counties, including Dade, Duval and Orange, have VINE programs in place. These individual programs will be merged with the rest of the state's 67 counties into one program that uses the same toll-free number. VINE will monitor offenders in all state and local detention facilities.

VINE is a portal serving the criminal justice market. The communications center relays information from a jail or prison's booking system to registered victims when there is a change in an offender's custody status. VINE is not limited to crime victims -- anyone may call, toll-free, for offender information.
Miriam Jones is a former chief copy editor of Government Technology, Governing, Public CIO and Emergency Management magazines.