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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PR- 167-05
May 2, 2005

MAYOR BLOOMBERG ANNOUNCES DATASHARE AT PUBLIC SAFETY SPEECH TO THE CITIZEN'S CRIME COMMISSION

State-of-the-Art Information-Sharing Technology to Allow Criminal Justice Agencies to Share Information Quicker Than Ever Before

Mayor Bloomberg today announced DataShare, a bold new technology initiative that will dramatically improve how police, prosecutors, courts and other criminal justice agencies communicate and share information. The $12 million, multi-agency initiative will connect the City's agencies through a central hub, allowing them to share more information quicker than ever before and without compromising security. The Criminal Justice Coordinator and the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT) developed the DataShare initiative in partnership with the NYPD, Departments of Correction, Probation and Juvenile Justice, the Office of Court Administration, the District Attorneys and other criminal justice organizations. In total, seventeen agencies will participate in DataShare. The Mayor made the announcement during a public safety speech at the Citizen's Crime Commission breakfast hosted by Verizon at their headquarters in Manhattan.

"Accurate, relevant and timely information is critical to effective law enforcement," said Mayor Bloomberg. "All criminal justice agencies depend on getting information from other agencies - and they must get it quickly. Police Officers need to know if the suspects they are seeking are in the custody of Correction; Probation Officers need to know if their probationers have been re-arrested; and prosecutors need to know if domestic violence victims have made prior Domestic Incident Reports. DataShare will make sure that the right information gets to the right people at the right time, resulting in quicker arrests and a safer city."

The DataShare technology hub will be housed in the offices of DoITT and maintained by a dedicated technical support team. DataShare participants will have the ability to authorize the types of data to be shared and the agencies that are permitted to receive that data.  The hub will automatically distribute data that agencies formerly accessed by phone, fax, and mail. In addition, participating agencies will be able to subscribe to customized functions, like notification of the release or arrest of certain offenders. The DataShare infrastructure is being built now and agencies will begin using the technology this fall.

With DataShare, criminal justice agencies will have easier access to each other's data, and will be able to customize the way they receive it. For example, a detective investigating a pattern of robberies can subscribe to receive a text message on a pager the minute a person matching the perpetrator's description is arrested anywhere in the City; or an Assistant District Attorney in the Bronx can automatically receive an e-mail when a defendant whom he is about to offer a plea bargain is arrested in Queens; or a Precinct Commander can receive notifications whenever sex offenders are released from prison into her precinct.







MEDIA CONTACT:


Edward Skyler / Robert Lawson   (212) 788-2958




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