by Angela Guess
According to a recent article, “Two high-profile murders of college students in North Carolina during 2008 have led to the creation of CJLEADS (Criminal Justice Law Enforcement Automated Data Services), an analytics project that aggregates a slew of disparate data stores and is designed to give law enforcement officials a complete picture of a suspect’s criminal history and status.”
The article continues, “Officials believe the centralized repository of court, probation and arrest records and other data CJLEADS provides will help law enforcement workers keep closer tabs on offenders, speed investigations and possibly prevent future crimes. Work on CJLEADS began in October 2008, with the first pilot going live last year in Wake County, said Kay Meyer, project manager in North Carolina’s Office of the State Controller. A statewide rollout began in January, with the goal being to complete the project next year.”
It goes on, “So far, CJLEADS has played a role in a number of cases, including the bust of 14 members of a ring that staged car accidents, according to a statement from the North Carolina Department of Insurance. CJLEADS is a Web-based application based on SAS Institute’s Enterprise BI Server, Enterprise Data Integration Server and Enterprise Miner technologies, and is hosted by SAS. It is funded by North Carolina’s General Assembly. Lawmakers initially set aside US$5 million to start the pilot program, and last year slotted a recurring line item for it in the state budget, Meyer said. While the project received nearly $9 million last year, a reduction is expected due to state budget constraints. Still, the project should remain largely on track, she said. The state is expecting significant financial return on its investment thanks to the amount of time workers will save that otherwise would be spent digging through various databases, one by one.”
photo credit: Tarter Time Photography
