URBANA – The Champaign County Board approved spending $2.9 million Tuesday night for the purchase of an integrated justice information system.
   Board members voted unanimously to approve a contract with lead vendor Jano Justice Systems of Jackson, Miss., to install the justice computer system, which officials said will enable information to be shared electronically among several justice offices.
   Installation of the computer software and hardware is scheduled to be completed in about two years, by Dec. 1, 2004.
   "It's going to substantially enhance the operation of all the offices in the justice arena," said Champaign County Presiding Judge J.G. Townsend. "It's going to reduce duplicate data entry. It's going to make it much more efficient to work with document images (on computer screens), rather than so much movement of paper."
   Vasco Bridges, senior partner with Jano Justice Systems, which has a Springfield office, said Champaign County will be a leader in the state in integrating its justice information system.
   "We think this will be a model," Bridges said. "We intend to use Champaign County as a model to show how it works. Champaign County will be the first in the state to go this far with integration."
   Jano Justice Systems has already integrated the justice information systems in Sangamon, Madison, Will and Winnebago counties and the 16th Judicial Circuit, which comprises Kane, Kendall and Dekalb counties.
   In Champaign County, Jano will install the integrated computer system in the courthouse offices of the judiciary, the circuit clerk, the state's attorney, court services and the public defender.
   Champaign County will go beyond those counties, however, because a subcontractor, New World Systems Corp. of Troy, Mich., will supply software for the sheriff's office, both law enforcement and corrections, and possibly supply other police agencies in the county.
   Paul Bazzano, director of sales, central region, for New World Systems, said his company's work will represent "a quantum leap" in efficiency for the sheriff's office. He said deputies will be able to write reports electronically in their squad cars and file them electronically. The software will also help with data analysis, allowing the sheriff to "make management decisions on a more timely basis with better information."
   Townsend said the New World Systems software will make it much easier "to maintain visibility of the jail population," for example, if someone needs to be transferred to another facility.
   A third vendor, Judicial Systems Inc., of Tyler, Texas, will provide software related to selecting jurors.
   As part of the vote, the county board specified that the county itself might opt to buy or lease some of the new mainframe computers required if the county can save money doing that.
   The county will use public safety quarter-cent sale tax reserves to pay for most of the project, though Circuit Clerk Linda Frank has agreed to provide $1,076,000 from three different funds controlled by her office. Court fees generate the cash for those funds.
   Besides the $2.9 million, the county also has budgeted a $220,000 contingency fund and another $150,000 to hire a project manager for two years.
   The county board also approved the creation of an eight-member executive board to create and operate the justice information system. Justice office department heads, the county board chairman and a county co-administrator will sit on the board.