One of the things that make the State of Delaware unique is that it has always been in the forefront of technology. Rather than shying away from its use, Delaware has embraced it. One of the ways in which its impact is most felt is in the area of law enforcement. Although not as flashy as the gadgetry used by James Bond, it fulfills the same purpose. Technology is now an integral part of keeping the rate of women abuse down and the citizens safe.
Finding that there was a need to be met, law enforcement agencies worked together with institutions from the private sector to create a computer application that can help facilitate the implementation of the Violence against Women Act. This particular law was promulgated to protect victims of domestic abuse.
When a person applies for an order of protection under this law, the police and the legal department need particular and specific information to be able to do their jobs. Some of things that such information can be used for are to care for the victim as well as create a program, such as anger management classes, for the abuser to help them.
Delaware previously did not have any reliable method of tracking these pieces of information. To remedy this, the state used web services and authentication tools available in the Oracle Identity and Access Management Suite to create a program that manages the number of protective orders and rehabilitation procedures implemented. This ensures that that there was an organized and effective system in place to help distribute the information. Through this new software, people from the private sector, law enforcement agencies, and the legal department can see and review cases of abuses. Also, they can update themselves on the status of the abused and the abuser.
Through technology, Delaware is able to arm itself with a secret weapon against instances of violence within the state: information. It is no longer easy for a case to slip through the cracks and be ignored. With this kind of access to information, each case of abuse was no longer just a number. Rather, it was made into an individual case that can easily be given attention to.
The plans of Delaware when it comes to using technology to fight crime do not just stop with the formulation of this computer application. It has further plans of adding features to the Oracle Identity and Access Management Suite to include the recovery of passwords as well as self-registration. It also is working to extend the power of the application to find a way to sign-on just once to the state’s other systems. Another way in which Delaware is planning to improve the technology is to apply to other services the same principles used behind the application utilized for the Violence against Women Act. One such example of such an expansion is the plan of Delaware to provide retired state employees access to their pension deposit from wherever they are in the world.
