Introduction
CJLEADS is a database of comprehensive information about criminals that can be accessed via the web in seconds. CJLEADS integrates data found within the state’s various databases – including warrants, jail records, court records, prison records, probation and parole status, sex offender registration, DMV, Wildlife and Concealed Handgun Permits – and provides up-to-date information about offenders in a centralized location via a secure connection for use by state and local government criminal justice professionals.
The CJLEADS program is a joint effort, managed by the N.C. Department of Information Technology, with participation from various state agencies and SAS Institute, Inc. This collaborative team has partnered with local subject matter experts to understand industry best practices in criminal justice information sharing and to further the efforts of the project. As a result, CJLEADS was created to replace the manual and labor-intensive process of looking up historical criminal data from multiple systems and places, thus reducing the risk of overlooking critical data and improves the information needs of law enforcement agencies.
CJLEADS has two primary objectives: to provide a comprehensive view of an offender through a single application, allowing for positive identification of an offender through a photographic image; and to provide an “offender watch” capability to alert criminal justice professionals when an offender has a change in status. CJLEADS helps officers on the street know immediately what the offender looks like, if they need to approach the suspect with caution, and if there are orders for arrest or warrants out on the suspect. CJLEADS also lets judges and other court officials instantly know if the defendant sitting in court already has a lengthy criminal history.
Background
The CJLEADS project is a joint effort, managed by the Department of Information Technology, with participation from more than 100 state and 20 SAS Institute, Inc. project team members. The project team has partnered with local subject matter experts to understand industry best practices in criminal justice information sharing and to further the efforts of the project.
Purpose of CJLEADS
CJLEADS, or the Criminal Justice Law Enforcement Automated Data Services, is an offender based application being developed to meet two objectives.
- First, the system will provide a comprehensive view of an offender's North Carolina criminal information in a single web based application.
- Second, the system will allow users to develop a watch list of persons of interest and will notify the users when that person of interest has a change in status such as an arrest, pending court date, or release from custody.
CJLEADS is another tool for criminal justice professionals to use in making quicker and more effective decisions. Although the information that is contained in CJLEADS is currently available in many different places, it is not readily available to all criminal justice professionals. The advantage of CJLEADS is that it brings together, in one place, criminal justice data from multiple systems to help create a clearer picture of an offender, and this data is available to all criminal justice and law enforcement professionals.
Legislative Vision
Session Law 2008-107, House Bill 2436 recognized the urgent need for state-of-the-art integrated criminal justice information and mandated the development and implementation of a framework for sharing of critical information as soon as possible.
The Criminal Justice Advisory Committee, the Department of Justice, the Administrative Office of the Courts, the Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Department of Correction, the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety, the Department of Transportation, and local law enforcement agencies shall fully cooperate with the Department of Information Technology and the State Chief Information Officer, to identify the informational needs, develop a plan of action, provide access to data, and implement secure integrated applications for information sharing of criminal justice and corrections data.
Statewide Deployment
CJLEADS has users in all 100 counties across the state. and training is available for criminal justice and law enforcement officials throughout North Carolina.
Our Partners
- Criminal Justice Advisory Committee
- Criminal Justice Information Network
- Duke University
- Governor’s Crime Commission
- NC Administrative Office of the Courts
- NC Department of Information Technology
- NC Department of Justice
- NC Department of Public Safety
- NC Department of Transportation - Division of Motor Vehicles
- NC State Bureau of Investigation
- NC Wildlife Resources Commisson
- University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
- SAS Institute, Inc.
- Wake County Courts
- Wake County Sheriff’s Office
Feedback
We want to know how CJLEADS has helped you do your job and find out if there are ways we can improve CJLEADS to better assist you in the future. Please provide your success stories and/or suggestions.