Lee County, Florida Taps Metatomix for Active Warrant Alert System

December 9, 2008

Lee County, Florida has implemented an Active Warrant Alert System to identify defendants appearing before the court who have open local, Florida, out-of-state or federal warrants, enabling court and law enforcement personnel to take appropriate action. Within the first seven days of implementation in Lee County, the Metatomix system identified 141 warrants that led to 16 arrests.

The Active Warrant Alert System is an extension of the Metatomix technology which also powers the Judicial Inquiry System (JIS) and First Appearance Calendar, statewide solutions that query and deliver correlated results from 13 state and national data sources empowering criminal justice personnel with real-time information. These solutions were developed by Metatomix in cooperation with the Florida Office of State Courts Administrator. Underscoring the effectiveness of Metatomix technology in the state of Florida, the company's solutions are currently in use in all 67 counties across the state, with over four million search queries processed each month.

Lee County, with a population of over 400,000, is the first county in Florida to integrate the Active Warrant Alert System, which flags warrants for any subject appearing for court events such as arraignment, pretrial, bond, motion, case management or traffic hearings. The technology provides court officials with access to warrant information from sheriff's departments and attorney's offices across local, state and national information systems. Previously, bailiffs were required to log in to numerous computer systems to acquire information on a subject's criminal history as well as any local, Florida, out-of-state or federal warrants.

"Metatomix's JIS solution will play a critical role in ensuring public safety in Lee County," said Chief Judge G. Keith Cary of the 20th Judicial Circuit, which encompasses Lee County. "JIS will provide a more efficient process for conducting warrant background checks. In just the first week of implementation, we have already seen benefits in both expedience and information quality from our implementation of the Metatomix technology."

Using the Active Warrant Alert System, court officials have direct access to a subject's criminal history and active warrants will be flagged within the court's calendar system and the Comprehensive Case Information System (CCIS). The production solution, serving as a statewide pilot program, will provide access and alerts to court calendars for all county and circuit judges within Lee County. The project is the first of its kind and could be expanded to the four other counties within the 20th Judicial Circuit of Florida -- Collier, Charlotte, Hendry and Glades Counties.

"Lee County's decision to implement the warrant alert system shows their commitment to providing efficient, cost-effective justice data sharing solutions," said Metatomix President and CEO Jeff Dickerson. "We're delighted to be partnering with a forward-looking organization like Lee County."

Metatomix's JIS technology helps to connect disparate data systems and provide justice users a single interface for searching all state and local criminal justice data sources. Additionally, it automates warrant processing and other criminal justice information exchange processes for real-time access and improved accuracy of information.