Online Victim Notification Service Tracks Custody Status of Criminals

Called the "IowaVINE" system -- a victim information and notification system for crime victims that tracks the custody status of criminals who have been arrested or convicted -- has just expanded to include persons in the system of the Iowa Department of Corrections, Attorney General Tom Miller announced Friday.  About 8700 Iowa Dept. of Corrections inmates now are on the system.

The system was launched last year, but it only included selected county jails around the state. "Adding Corrections is a huge step forward," Miller said. "It means about 8700 more offenders are covered by the IowaVINE system," he said.

"IowaVINE is a powerful tool that offers information, notification, and peace of mind for crime victims. It's a superb service for crime victims," he said.

Victims also can register for virtually immediate notification when an offender's custody status changes, such as release, escape, transfer, or death. Persons may register for e-mail notification by going to www.vinelink.com. Persons may register for telephone notification by going to the Web site or calling 888-7-IAVINE. In a telephone notification, the service will continue calling for up to 48 hours or until the person enters a PIN code to confirm receiving the notification.

When Miller unveiled the notification system last June, 23 Iowa counties and their jails were on the system. "We are up to 49 counties now, including three added this week," Miller said -- Benton, Chickasaw and Delaware Counties. Miller estimated that about two-thirds of Iowans live in counties now covered by IowaVINE.

Miller said the system already has had over 69,000 "hits" - where Iowans contacted the system by phone or on-line to check the status of offenders. (There were 69,528 hits on-line via www.VINElink.com, and 1,854 by phone.) Miller said about 1700 Iowans also have registered with IowaVINE to receive virtually instant notification when an offender's status changes, such as transfer, release, escape, or death of an offender.

Miller was joined at a news conference Friday by Fred Scaletta, Public and Media Relations Director and Supervisor of the Office of Victim and Restorative Justice Programs for the Iowa Department of Corrections, and Rod Fritz of Des Moines - whose 19-year-old son was killed in a drunk driving crash in June 2005. Fritz told how important it is for victims, or survivors of homicide victims, to keep track of the status of offenders.