NIJ's Corrections Technology Center of Excellence: Addressing Cutting-Edge Corrections Technology Issues

Higgins, Brian R., Corrections Today

The National Institute of Justice's (NIJ) Corrections Technology Center of Excellence (CoE) helps corrections professionals transition into using new technology that can make their operations safer and more effective. According to CoE Director Joe Russo, "Our mission is driven by practitioner needs."

The NLECTC System

The establishment of the Corrections Technology CoE is just one aspect of the reorganization of the National Law Enforcement Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC) system. The system was formerly organized into a national center and regional centers along arbitrary geographic lines. The reorganization still includes a national center (which serves as the hub of the system and administers NIJ's equipment compliance testing program) and three regional centers, but now also includes technology centers of excellence aligned with NIJ's technology investment portfolios.

The regional centers are organized to support agencies with similar jurisdictional and regional issues. The first regional center focuses on state, major city and county criminal justice agencies (those with 50 or more sworn officers). A second regional center focuses on small, rural, tribal and border agencies. A third center focuses on the needs of agencies in Alaska. This reorganization allows the new centers to more clearly focus on a single set of similar issues shared by the agencies in their region, rather than the old structure that sought to support agencies with disparate needs.

The topic-specific centers of excellence conduct research, development, testing and evaluation efforts. The CoEs are: Corrections Technology; Communications Technology; Criminal Justice Electronic Crime Technology; Forensic Technology; Information and Geospatial Technologies; Sensors, Surveillance and Biometric …

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Publication information: Article title: NIJ's Corrections Technology Center of Excellence: Addressing Cutting-Edge Corrections Technology Issues. Contributors: Higgins, Brian R. - Author. Magazine title: Corrections Today. Volume: 73. Issue: 4 Publication date: October 2011. Page number: 74+. © 2009 American Correctional Association, Inc. COPYRIGHT 2011 Gale Group.

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