Offender Transfer Notification Service (OTNS)
“The Fusion Center Project”
In early 2011, a workgroup comprised of the Interstate Commission for Adult Offender Supervision (ICAOS) and New York State Intelligence Center (NYSIC) representatives attended a meeting hosted by the American Probation and Parole Association (APPA), sponsored by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA). In the meeting the 2009 murder of 4 police officers in Washington by an interstate compact parolee named Maurice Clemmons was reiterated. Though it is unclear whether such a tragic and complicated incident could have been prevented it was understood there was a need for greater information sharing between police and probation/parole departments. ICAOS and state fusion centers have provided the appropriate means in which to economically and strategically provide intelligence information to local law enforcement on potentially dangerous probationers/parolees transferring to a given state.
The ICAOS commissioner of a state must be willing to permit the exchange of compact data as the data exchange is actually between ICAOS and the state’s fusion center. There is no cost for a state to participate, however the state fusion center is responsible for providing server space and a limited amount of technical support.
The data exchanged contains a limited amount of offender and transfer information and involves a limited set of offenders who are convicted of Part One Crimes (as defined by the National Crime Information Center, NCIC). The Offender Transfer Notification Service (OTNS) works as follows:
- When a notice of an offender’s arrival is entered in ICOTS the system checks to see if the offender meets the criteria (the offender transferred to a state who is part of the project and the offense of conviction is a Part One Crime.)
- If the criteria is not met the process stops. If the criteria is met, the system sends a server message with the data fields listed in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to the state’s fusion center.
- When the fusion center receives the server message they check to see if they have other intelligence on the offender and then they prepare a notice that goes out to local law enforcement.
The fusion centers don’t have access to ICOTS, they simply receive a server message with the specified data. The data they receive is public data. If a local law enforcement agency wants more information they are directed to contact the offender’s supervising agency.
Related Documents:
APPA: The ICAOS’ Offender Transfer Notification Service (OTNS)—An Information Exchange with State Fusion Centers
BJA: Technology Innovation Success Story
ICAOS: MOU Template