COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has announced the launch of the state's new electronic system for entering warrants and protection orders into state / national databases.
His office says this new option will provide “a more streamlined and accurate process for background checks.”
Here's how it works...
"The new eWarrants interface is a shared information technology system free for use by courts and law enforcement that simplifies the process of uploading warrant and protection order information into Ohio’s Law Enforcement Automated Data System (LEADS) and the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), which are the background-check systems used to prevent inadvertent gun sales to wanted criminals and to aid law enforcement in identifying those with outstanding warrants and open protection orders," Gov. DeWine's office explains.
Gov. DeWine says he ordered the eWarrants system after an analysis by his Warrant Task Force found countless arrest warrants and protection orders were slow to be entered -- or never entered.
“We developed the new eWarrants system to help our criminal justice agencies overcome the information-sharing barriers that have left dangerous holes in our background check systems,” he says. “Agencies that use the eWarrants interface will be able to get up-to-date, comprehensive information into the hands of law enforcement nationwide almost immediately so that they can better protect the public, protect themselves, and prevent the illegal purchase of firearms.”
Gov. DeWine's office says Meigs County Common Pleas Court was the first agency to use the eWarrant system, saying it "has reduced its bench warrant filing time to as little as 12 minutes as opposed to the previous days-long process that involved the hand-to-hand transfer of paperwork between agencies and duplicative data entry into multiple case management systems."
Also speaking at the press conference was:
- Judge Linda R. Warner: Meigs County Common Pleas Court
- Keith O. Wood: Meigs County Sheriff
“The eWarrant database will also serve as an important efficiency tool for Ohio’s law enforcement agencies, freeing up time and resources for other law-enforcement priorities,” says Lt. Governor Husted. “We encourage our local criminal justice partners to take advantage of this free and efficient system, which will make the filing process for warrants faster and background checks more accurate. This will save lives and tax dollars.”
We streamed the entire press conference, which you can watch in full below.
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