WILLIAMSON COUNTY PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE

 

NEWS RELEASE

 

 

WILLIAMSON COUNTY VINE PROGRAM OFFERS PEACE OF MIND TO VICTIMS

 

            August 4, 2004 (Georgetown, TX) – Crime victims now have a new tool to help them feel more secure.  The Williamson County jail is utilizing the Texas Victim Information and Notification Everyday Program (VINE).  Victims assistance coordinators with law enforcement departments in Williamson County and its cities were recently trained in this program.  The program allows victims to register for automatic notification of court events and changes in county jail status of their offenders.  Texas VINE is a computerized telephone notification system that can be accessed 24-hours a day, seven days a week.  Registered users can call for the status of both suspects and offenders in county jails or be automatically notified by phone of court events and changes in jail status. 

            “Many of the people we work with who have been victims, especially of a violent crime, want to know daily that they are safe from the person who hurt them,” states Su Knight, victims assistance program coordinator with the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office.  “This system gives them peace of mind that the offender is still in jail.”

            The system is free and is available in both English and Spanish.  Texas VINE automatically notifies registered users by phone if the suspect/offender is released or transferred, a court event has been set or changed, or there is a change in custody status such as death or escape.  If an offender is transferred from the county jail to the state jail, there is another telephone notification system available to victims to track their offender. 

To register, call 1-877-TX4-VINE or 1-877-894-8463 from a touch tone phone.  The victim will be asked to provide the offender’s full name as a number using the telephone keypad.  The system will provide the caller with the offender’s booking number the first time the system is accessed.  The victim will be asked to provide a phone number where he/she wishes to be notified, and a four-digit Personal Identification Number (PIN) will be established.  When a notification call is made, the victim must enter the four-digit PIN to confirm notification.  Texas VINE will continue calling for 24 hours until the PIN is entered.

            Texas VINE is a program of the Texas Office of Attorney General’s Crime Victim Services Division.  For more information, call 1-877-TX4-VINE or visit the attorney general’s web-site at www.oag.state.tx.us.  For information or to volunteer with the Williamson County Victims Assistance Program, contact Su Knight at 943-1373.

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