Victim Services – Law Enforcement
Providing Law Enforcement the Information Necessary to Strengthen Victim Safety
We help law enforcement more effectively protect and serve victims of crime with inmate custody status alerts
Victims of crime need both immediate and long-term safety and support in a variety of areas, including emotional, physical, financial, psychological, and legal services. In addition to the victim, a crime impacts their extended networks and community, including parents/guardians, relatives, advocates, and law enforcement.
Educate victims on available safety services
The effects of a crime do not end with an offender’s incarceration. Post-conviction, victims often remain fearful for their safety. Knowing exactly where their offender is incarcerated, and if or when that changes, is a critical component of victims’ safety−providing the assurance and peace of mind they deserve.
As trusted sources of public safety knowledge and information, law enforcement personnel help crime victims plan for their safety and begin healing in a number of ways. One way they can facilitate safety and healing, is ensuring that victims are aware of the public services at their disposal.
Law enforcement personnel have one of the earliest opportunities to educate victims on the safety benefits of VINE®. Through VINELink™, VINE’s website portal, they can show a victim in how to register to begin receiving automated custody status alerts. Through direct interfaces with 80% of the nation’s jails and DOC facilities (equating to over 140 million booking records), VINE is the most comprehensive source of incarceration data in the U.S. This knowledge sharing ultimately provides a greater sense of safety to a very vulnerable population.
24/7 Inmate status alerts and support services
VINE is the nation’s leading automated victim notification service, empowering victims and concerned citizens through access to real-time, accurate offender custody status alerts. VINE is easy-to-use, completely confidential, and features multiple language support. It is provided at no cost to registrants. VINE simplifies the inmate tracking process for victims and allows law enforcement personnel to be more efficient and effective public servants.
VINE gives victims the option to call a toll-free telephone number, visit www.vinelink.com, or use the VINELink mobile app to anonymously check on an inmate’s custody status. Victims can also register to receive automated notifications about changes in status via their choice of format: phone, email, or text. TTY (hearing impaired) service is also available.
Victims are not alone
VINE provides custody status information to over 25 million people each year. In the video Chief Justice (Retired) Richard Barajas, Executive Director of NOVA (National Organization for Victim Assistance) tells a powerful story of his brother’s devastating murder, and how VINE gave him a much-needed sense of peace and security.
VIEW ADDITIONAL VIDEOS IN THIS SERIES :
There were over 4.2 million registrations, 41.2 million notifications sent and over 87.1 million searches for inmates and service providers on the VINE platform during the past year.
Enhanced VINE: A victim’s link to safety
The Enhanced VINE platform leverages cutting-edge technology to give crime victims complete control and the ability to identify and directly connect with relevant service providers. Going beyond notifications, Enhanced VINE* enables a greater degree of information-sharing between public servants, victims, and service providers. Last year Enhanced VINE connected victims of crime to assistance through over 11.4 million searches.
Enhanced VINE Features:
- A nationwide service-provider directory
- “Guide me,” a self-guided workflow that directs users to appropriate service providers
- A customizable inmate “watch list”
- Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology
*Enhanced VINE participation varies by state.
VINE Resources
Other VINE Solutions
VINE Protective Order helps keep victims of crime informed by automatically notifying them when protective orders have been served against a respondent.
VINE Courts is a powerful tool that can remind court staff, personnel and law enforcement officers of upcoming court appearances reducing the amount of ‘no-shows.’
24-Hour Assistance
Questions after normal business hours? Our CustomerFirst Center is equipped to answer common product-related questions. Call 1-866-277-7477 at any time.