It was computer-based technology that handled information from a multitude of different agencies, among them Lincoln police, the Lancaster County sheriff, jails, city attorneys, county prosecutors and courts.
Police could call up the name of a suspect and find out criminal history, whether that person posed a danger to police. Jail personnel could add information about booking and property, courts recorded criminal charges and dispositions.
The most amazing thing about that system? It's still around.
But what's been known as CJIS for more than four decades is about to be reinvented.
The $8.5 million project will be paid for by both the city and county with money from the federal pandemic relief package.
The City Council recently approved an agreement with PenLink, a local company, to develop software for the new system, which will be owned by the city and county. PenLink will be able to sell the technology to other communities and the royalties will be used to pay for maintenance of the new system.
Abby Eccher, the project manager, couldn't believe how old the current system was — and how effective — when she joined city information services.
"I really had to see it to believe it," she said. "The people who've looked at it from a software perspective are pretty amazed."
The new system will be web-based but will be created specifically for Lincoln and Lancaster County to do what most systems available on the market can't do — allow different agencies to use the same system to manage information.
Clair Lindquist, a police department employee who helped develop the original CJIS, said the system was specially tailored to 14 agencies that could all use it — one department could enter information and another could update it.
It's based on a three-machine network with backup systems — not a mainframe computer, he said.
"There's really nothing antiquated about the whole thing," he said.
But many of those who maintain it are reaching retirement age, and new college graduates don't know coding needed to maintain it, Eccher said. So the challenge, she said, is to take what's working and make it work even better with newer software. Creating the new system will take about three years.
HOSTILE ARCHITECTURE
Mike Reinmiller would like downtown Lincoln to get rid of what he calls hostile architecture — limestone benches with rounded bars that make it impossible to lie down.
The bars, he said, are intended to discourage loitering, and have the effect of creating an unwelcome environment that ostracizes people experiencing homelessness.
He started with a letter to the editor, spoke to council members and city officials and now has an online petition that's gotten 789 of the 800 signatures he's seeking to encourage city officials to rethink the benches common along P Street.
Dan Marvin, the city's urban development director, said one of the primary reasons for the bars is to discourage grinding by skateboarders.
And, he said, there are other benches downtown that don't have those bars.
"The characterization that there are no benches someone can lay down on is inaccurate," he said.
Downtown Lincoln Association Director Todd Ogden said the bars also are an aid for elderly people to get up and down, and said while the city owns the benches his association is open to discussing other options when they need to be replaced.
Ogden said he wants downtown to be welcoming to everyone, and the association has focused its efforts on working with social workers from groups who help people experiencing homelessness to get them the services they need.
Marvin said the city does a lot to help people experiencing homelessness, including outreach, rent and utility assistance, and programs to avoid eviction.
"I'm just not sure if removing armrests on some downtown benches is at the top of my priority list to solve the issues of homelessness," he said.
Reinmiller said he's been involved with issues regarding homelessness for years, and the architecture downtown is part of the issue. Pushing homeless people out of sight doesn't make the problem go away, he said.
"I don't have all the answers. I just know what's not right," he said. "I love this place. I just think we can do things to make it better."
MESSAGES IN THE MAIL
Lincoln City Councilwoman Jane Raybould received an odd package in the mail last week clearly related to the recently passed ordinance extending discrimination protection to include sexual orientation and gender expression.
The books, entitled "Irreversible Damage, The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters" by Wall Street Journal reporter Abigail Shrier, and "The Abolition of Sex, How the Transgender Agenda Harms Women and Girls" by Kara Dansky, arrived with no return address and a request from the post office for Raybould to pay an additional $6.25 in postage.
The ordinance, a broad update to the entire city code on equity, was the subject of a successful referendum petition drive, which means the council must now decide whether to rescind the ordinance or take it to a vote of the people.
Raybould, a staunch supporter of the ordinance, said she and other female council members received books, apparently an attempt to convince them to change their stance.
It hasn't, Raybould said, and the post office said she didn't need to pay the extra postage, since she didn't order the books.
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