From TechBeat
Rhode Island Mapper
Rhode Island, the nation’s smallest state, has a large probation and parole caseload, with approximately 27,000 individuals on probation or parole. To make tracking of officers’ caseloads and offenders more efficient, the Department of Corrections is using the Community Supervision Mapping System.
The Web-based computer software system was developed by the Providence Plan, a nonprofit community organization, and the Urban Institute with funding from the Office of Justice Programs’ National Institute of Justice (NIJ). The Providence Plan developed the system using open source software and the Urban Institute conducted an evaluation. The aim of the program is to enable corrections, public safety and social service agencies to better supervise and assist offenders returning to or already in the community.
The system allows users to query locations of released prisoners and map the results at the street level using Google Maps. Users can click on an address and pull up a photo, name, date of birth and case information of the probationer. The system automatically updates the database each night with changes of address and with new offenders on probation or parole.
Christine Imbriglio, supervisor of probation and parole in Kent County, says in addition to helping organize workloads, when probation and parole officers are planning home visits, the system will alert them about offenders living in the same area, so visits can be better coordinated.
“The mapper figures out who lives where and figures out logistics. It really makes it more efficient for an officer,” Imbriglio says.The Probation and Parole division has about 76 officers. System users can search by name, city, assigned caseload, supervision level, offense type, distance from a particular address or for individuals recently released into a specific community, and obtain probation and parole officer contact information.
In addition, the system enables officers to plan and conduct compressed, targeted visits in one area in a short period of time. In conjunction with the police department, officers identify communities that have had a recent spate of crime. Two-person teams of probation and police officers map locations of parolees and probationers and spread out, covering 100 home visits in four hours.
In addition, the mapper has been an excellent tool for sex offender supervision by providing users the ability to layer the offender’s address in relation to school locations. Rhode Island law currently prohibits any sex offender who is required to register from residing within 300 feet of school.
“Rhode Island has some of the largest caseloads in the country so it is difficult to plan home visits without a tool such as the mapper,” Imbrigilo says, adding that the present sentencing system in the state does not provide the courts with many sentencing alternatives besides probation.
The system makes it easier for Imbriglio to track the cases of the officers she supervises. She can also query the system to find out who has been released back into a specific community within the past week, month or year and share discharge planning information with law enforcement as well as community support agencies.
“It automates what people were trying to do manually,” says Jim Lucht, information group director for the Providence Plan. “Their existing system is extensive but
they have to dig through multiple screens to get information. Our system contains a subset of the most important elements and allows users to rapidly query. It also adds
geographic capability.”
The system currently has about 700 users, including police officers, according to Lucht. The system also can help social service agencies such as the Family Life Center of Rhode Island better coordinate services to offenders and their families.
Colorado C-WISE
Colorado parole officers have a tool to map caseloads and plan home visits more efficiently. The capability comes through an addition to the existing Colorado WebBased Integrated Support Environment (C-WISE) system used by the Colorado Department of Corrections, Division of Adult Parole, Community Corrections and Youthful Offender System.
C-WISE is a system for electronically entering case contact, surveillance and supervision information. It provides more accurate, quicker access to information and easier statistical tracking. It uses geographic information system (GIS) technology to map officer caseloads, prepare for home visits and provide outside agencies with the locations of offenders living near a crime location.
The division wanted to expand its current GIS technology to allow parole officers to produce maps independently and set up a routing system for planning visits to offenders’ homes.
Elisa DiTrolio, division crime analyst, says equipment, software and programming costs to add the mapping and routing component were funded by a U.S. Department of Justice Anti-Gang Initiative grant.
“It presents the officer with a way to view their caseloads in real time instead of just on paper,” says DiTrolio. “We have about 300 officers statewide and all have access and all have been trained on the system.”
