Automated
System Notifies Victims of Offender Status Changes
This
past spring, the Illinois Department of Correction's Victim Services
Unit, went live with the Attorney General's Illinois Automated Victim
Notification system. The Illinois AVN is a statewide service designed
to empower and protect crime victims while also assisting law enforcement
and victim service providers. Illinois AVN is a toll-free, bi-lingual
telephone service available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to provide
information about offender custody, case status and for those who register,
automatic notification of any change in status.
The Illinois AVN
establishes an interface with county jail booking systems, the Illinois
Department of Corrections, the Illinois Department of Human Services,
the Illinois Prisoner Review Board, and the county circuit clerk's offices.
The AVN system transfers offender/case information to a centralized
communications center. The center regularly updates the information
it receives from the systems to which it is interfaced.
Victims and the
public access Illinois AVN through a toll-free number 1-866-5-NOTIFY
(1-866-566-8439) Voice/TTY. In order to register for automatic notification
of a status change, the caller may enter up to two telephone numbers
at which he or she wishes to receive notification calls and select a
4-digit Personal Identification Number (PIN). When a registered person
receives a notification call, they will need to provide the PIN to confirm
notification. If a PIN is not entered, the system will continue to make
notification calls as often as every 30 minutes for 24 hours depending
on the nature of notification.
