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CrimEnet Wins Grand Prize of L-Soft's LISTSERV Choice Awards
London, June 24, 2008 – The proverbial long arm of the law extends further than you think, thanks to Crime Electronic Network (CrimEnet), an email list that has helped solve numerous crimes by connecting some 320 law enforcement personnel from 75 agencies across three states. And today, CrimEnet received the grand prize of L-Soft's LISTSERV Choice Awards in recognition of its innovative and effective use of email list technology to solve crimes.
"As we all know, criminals range across jurisdictional boundaries to commit crimes," said Captain Frank Anderson of Indiana's St. Joseph County police department and CrimEnet founder and administrator. "Therefore, my agency – recognising the value of our time and the enormity of our caseloads – created a LISTSERV® email list to promote easier interagency communication."
Anderson added that individual law enforcement agencies are unknowingly dealing with perpetrators who have committed multiple crimes in adjacent jurisdictions. But they rarely have the time to communicate with one another to compare details about certain types of crimes, especially burglaries, to find patterns that might indicate a single perpetrator is responsible. CrimEnet operates in Indiana, Michigan and Ohio.
L-Soft's awards program, currently in its third year, is designed to recognise the most successful and beneficial LISTSERV email list or LISTSERV Maestro email marketing campaign. This award recognises the positive results that organisations and individuals can achieve using email list technology.
"CrimEnet's novel and low-cost approach to information sharing across police jurisdictions has led to crimes being solved. This is real communication with real results and is a model that could be easily replicated and expanded upon by other organisations," said Eric Thomas, L-Soft founder and CEO and LISTSERV creator. "Congratulations and thanks to Capt. Anderson and his colleagues in St. Joseph County for using email list technology to make our society safer."
According to Anderson, who started CrimEnet in 2003, "The success of CrimEnet comes from having a very diverse group. Our email list includes local, state and federal law enforcement agencies as well as prosecutor investigators, railroad police, college security and the airport police. The Indiana Infusion Center, which gathers intelligence in the state of Indiana and similar agencies in the state of Michigan, also now includes CrimEnet information in its databases."
CrimEnet is password-protected and open strictly to law enforcement personnel. Members send and receive messages about current investigations, sharing information that furthers the investigative process and leads to better crime solving results. Photo arrays and various other kinds of graphic files, such as bulletins and driver's license photos, can also be included. Images of stolen property can be particularly useful.
"When I first moved into the police bureau, we were having the lawncare equipment and trailer thefts in LaPorte, Elkhart, St. Joseph and Marshall Counties in Indiana, and Cass County in Michigan," said Det. Sgt. Timothy A. Shortt of the LaPorte County Sheriff's Department. "With the use of CrimEnet, all investigators were able to network and have meetings, and we were able to arrest and convict all parties involved. I went to Kentucky with another one of our detectives and assisted Kentucky State Police in their inventory of nearly $1 million in stolen property from the suspects."
"In the busy schedules we in law enforcement have, there is not enough time to always have meetings and talk face to face. It would be impossible to know if another agency was working the same kind of case with the same suspects. If we found some property from another agency's burglary, unless the item was in National Crime Information Center (N.C.I.C.)/Indiana Data and Communications System (I.D.A.C.S.), we wouldn't know if it was in fact stolen or if another agency was looking for it. Being a member of CrimEnet eliminates this disconnect. You can simply post a picture of the property or a detail about the burglary or theft, along with suspect information. And in a matter of seconds, someone will respond with some good information," Anderson said.
The results attesting to CrimEnet's success include numerous suspects being taken into custody, arrest warrants issued and the recovery of stolen property. As for the future of CrimEnet, Anderson said the email list's membership has grown primarily through word-of-mouth, and he intends to continue the network's growth with an eye to expanding its crime solving benefits.
To learn more about CrimEnet, visit:
http://www.lsoft.com/customers/crimenet.asp
To read more about the LISTSERV Choice Awards, visit:
http://www.lsoft.com/news/choicewinners.asp
L-Soft, which was incorporated in 1994, offers email list and opt-in email marketing software and hosting services for managing email newsletters, discussion groups and marketing campaigns. L-Soft's products serve more than 100 million list subscriptions. L-Soft celebrates the 15th anniversary of double opt-in support, first introduced in its pioneering LISTSERV® email list management software.
Outi Tuomaala
+44 (0)203-7555117 or +46-8-50709911
https://www.lsoft.com/contact/econtact.asp?id=pressinfo
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