Enhancing Alabama''s Statewide Automated Victim Identification and Notification (AlaVINE)

The Statewide Automated Victim Information and Notification (SAVIN) program ensures victims of crime receive accurate and timely information regarding the status of offenders and events related to their case. Through SAVIN, victims are able to participate in the judicial process and make sound decisions to protect themselves from further victimization while maintaining total anonymity. This information-sharing capability is also available to courts, corrections, and law enforcement officials.

The Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center (ACJIC) will use its FY2008 SAVIN award to enhance Alabama's statewide automated victim information and notification system called AlaVINE. Currently, ACJIC works with Appriss, Inc., as a SAVIN vendor and provider of an automated victim notification platform. The relationship was initiated in 2006 when Appriss, Inc. was selected as the vendor for the Alabama statewide victim notification service. The SAVIN system connects all of the various participating agencies, allowing for exchange of vital information to ensure victims are informed of their offender's status. The SAVIN program also benefits the citizens by providing victims of crime with accurate and timely information about the status of their offender and court events related to their case.

ACJIC will choose a vendor consistent with Federal and State requirements. The vendor will be responsible for the deployment and maintenance of the network to enhance the current service, to include photos in AlaVINE. This will include providing access via a user-friendly internet website. Automated victim notification links agencies, programs and practices, which reduces redundant efforts and fills in the gaps in service delivery. The addition of photos to the AlaVINE website will enhance these services to victims of crime and increase the accuracy of these notifications. The addition of photos will require enhancement of the current adapters to the jail management systems that are providing the information for the Alabama system. Victims will have the option to display and/or hide the offender photo for purposes of verifying the identity of the selected offender.

CA/NCF