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Trumbull sheriff unveils new Internet-based inmate database
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
A powerful new tool has been unveiled that provides the public with instant information on inmates at the Trumbull County jail – even old information – and eventually provide the public with online police reports.
Sheriff Thomas Altiere on Monday explained the new feature on the sheriff’s website at www.sheriff.co.trumbull.oh.us. It is available now and allows anyone with Internet access and a computer or phone to access information about anyone who has been held in the jail dating back a couple of decades.
The sheriff said the feature will enable people to conduct background checks on potential renters, employees, volunteers and others by listing their incarcerations and charges filed against them.
“It’s real exciting,” the sheriff said. “It’s going to save us work in our records department.” Sheriff’s department personnel currently fill 100 or more requests per week from phone calls or faxes for information on inmates.
“For instance, Children Services calls all the time,” he said of the Trumbull County child-welfare agency. Other agencies that call for such information on a regular basis are the U.S. military and churches, he said. It also will help other law-enforcement agencies, he noted.
Information available on the website will make it easier for family members and friends of current inmates to know visiting hours and rules, the charges the inmate faces, date and time someone entered the jail and whether they were released.
The database only requires that the searcher give the first three letters of the inmate’s last name. Having more information to enter, such as the entire last name and part or all of the first name speeds up the search, Altiere said.
Furthermore, in the coming weeks, the website also will provide access to police reports written by personnel with the sheriff’s office. After that, the department plans to check with the 23 other police departments that partner with the sheriff’s office and determine whether they want to provide their police reports through the sheriff database.
The sheriff’s office has been operating a database containing police reports from 23 police agencies in Trumbull, Mahoning and Ashtabula counties for many years, thanks to a federal grant. The database is available to the agencies and to the public through a public-access computer at the sheriff’s office. Eventually, Altiere plans to make such reports availble through the website, he said.
“We’ve always been on the forefront of transparency,” Altiere said. “This will make [information] available more quickly.” The database is being updated in “real time,” meaning within seconds of the data being input, Altiere said.