Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services

Technology

Topics At A Glance

• Dashboard 
• Livescan 
• Parole and Probation Kiosks 
• GPS Monitoring 
• Offender Case Management System 

Dashboard

• In 2008 DPSCS created the Local Law Enforcement Dashboard – a web-based clearinghouse of information on a criminal subject’s history that is accessible to cooperating local, state, and federal law enforcement.
• The Dashboard consolidates data from 92 different databases into a single platform, providing accurate and timely information to law enforcement. Now, law enforcement can find criminal and background information that exists about a person in minutes instead of hours.

• The Dashboard is used by 16,000 eligible people throughout more than 100 criminal justice agencies, and gets an average of 34,000 hits a day from law enforcement.

New Facial Recognition Software enhances law enforcement use of Dashboard

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Livescan

• Livescan digital technology, being installed in all Division of Parole and Probation (DPP) offices in 2010, allows a parolee or probationer to be digitally fingerprinted, palm-printed, and photographed at one machine.
• This closes an information gap: until now, police agencies were not always able to immediately ascertain whether someone was under Parole and Probation supervision. Now, that important component of an offender’s record will show up as a reportable event on his or her “RAP” sheet within minutes after Livescan completes the process.

• DPSCS has purchased or helped install 206 Livescan machines statewide, both for Parole and Probation offices and prisons, and for outside law enforcement and other agencies.

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Parole and Probation Kiosks

• Another tool demonstrating the O’Malley-Brown Administration and DPSCS’ commitment to refining community supervision in Maryland through technology are supervision Kiosks.  The system uses software developed by the New York City probation department and was enhanced by the DPSCS IT division for application in both states.
• Kiosks capture an offender’s handprint, and automatically verifies the person’s identification. Offenders then must answer a series of questions.  Any discrepancies, new arrests, or violations will generate an automatic alert to the offender’s supervising Parole and Probation agent.

• Using a set of risk assessment tools, DPP agents carefully screen offenders to determine their suitability for kiosk monitoring.  Low-risk offenders may be eligible to primarily use the kiosk system, allowing agents to spend more time on high-risk or violent offenders who may be considered likely to re-offend. In addition, some higher-risk offenders use the kiosk system to supplement face-to-face visits, thus further enhancing the agents’ abilities to monitor their clients.
• Begun as a DPP pilot project in Montgomery County, kiosks today are used by more than 7,000 Maryland offenders.

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GPS Monitoring

• GPS monitoring technology adds an additional dimension of surveillance on an offender population already subject to the State’s strictest supervision model, the VPI, and sexual offenders. It increases the level of offender accountability in between contacts with their agents. It can also confirm offender compliance with drug treatment programs, school attendance and even employment requirements.
• In FY09, the Parole Commission authorized the use of GPS for all parole and mandatory releases.  GPS monitoring for probationers must be ordered by a court.

• Currently all paroled or mandatory release VPI offenders are placed on GPS monitoring for at least the first 60 days of their supervision. Sexual offenders released from prison are monitored for at least 90 days.  After the initial period, their case is reviewed by DPP agents and GPS monitoring is ended if appropriate. If not, the offender remains monitored in 30 day increments.
• During FY10 1,286 offenders were monitored through GPS at some point during their supervision.

• Utilizing passive GPS, a DPP agent reviews an offender’s location and travels during the prior 24 hour period, looking for possible violations, such as missing a curfew. If an offender violates, a warrant is immediately requested by the agent.

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Offender Case Management System

• The first portion of a $15 million Offender Case Management System (OCMS) was implemented in October of 2010 at the Central Booking and Intake Facility, under the Division of Pretrial Detention and Services (DPDS) in Baltimore.
• OCMS eliminates the practical disconnect of our current stove-piped information systems and creates a single integrated system that can be used by all of the agencies with offender management responsibilities. It creates the ability to store critical and easily accessible data on every offender in the DPSCS system. 

• Once complete, this web-based solution will allow the Department to more effectively manage offenders, in terms of both institutional security and program/rehabilitative services as they move through the DPSCS system.  Offenders will now have one electronic file as they move from pretrial status to corrections and onto community supervision. OCMS provides a “live” up-to-the-moment status on any offender, as well as the entire history of the offender’s relationship with the Department. 
• It keeps track of an offender record of programming accomplishments as they transfer from one institution to another or between agencies, ensuring people are correctly matched to the next step in the rehabilitation process. Conversely, information regarding assessments, infraction history, gang affiliation and security issues enables staff at new institutions to properly manage potentially dangerous offenders.

• The DOC is anticipated to launch their portion of the system in the fall of 2011, while DPP will launch early 2012.
• Several local counties throughout Maryland will also utilize this system.  The system also has the ability to include information from other agencies, such as the courts.

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