Kansas, Five Other States, to Receive $50,000 Technology Integration Grant

The National Governor's Association announced last week that six states, including Kansas, would be awarded $50,000 each for pilot projects to improve existing justice information sharing systems.

Kansas, Colorado, Kentucky, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin will receive grants in order to utilize the Global XML Data Model, which improves the exchange of information between criminal justice, law enforcement, public safety and judicial agencies. Governor Kathleen Sebelius requested the grant in January.

In a letter to Debra Wilson of the Homeland Security and Technology Division of the National Governor's Association, Gov. Sebelius stressed the benefit the money would have for Kansas, especially given the Kansas Criminal Justice Information System's new strategic plan.

"These groups have consistently met to address questions with regard to planning and implementing a system to coordinate the sharing of criminal justice information between local law enforcement and state law enforcement entities," Gov. Sebelius wrote.

"When complete, each state project will demonstrate a new application of technology that will benefit all states as they progress to the next level of integration," said John Thomasian, director of the NGA Center for Best Practices.