NORTH CAROLINA
DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION
James B. Hunt, Jr., Governor
Joe Hamilton, Acting Secretary
Patty McQuillan, Director of Public Information (919) 733-4926

NC DOC Web offers new crime victims services

APRIL 16, 1999

Raleigh – Crime victims looking for services and resources now have two new tools to help them, thanks to an innovative use of internet technology by the Department of Correction.

The new tools -- a database of services indexed by local, state and national providers and an internet search engine that hunts for data exclusively on web sites created by victim service providers and advocacy groups -- put a wealth of information at victims’ fingertips.

"We’ve collected and organized information for crime victims and put it on the internet in a fashion that’s easy to use," said Bob Brinson, Correction’s director of Management Information Services. "We have also built features into the web site so that crime victims can help us keep the site current and helpful."

Call Toll Free:
1-800-368-1985

For the first time on the internet, North Carolina victim services, criminal justice and social services agencies that help crime victims are listed with the names of contacts, their addresses and phone numbers. In Wake County, for instance, listings include the Raleigh Police Department, State Capitol Police, the state Division of Victim & Justice Services and victim services groups such as North Carolina Victims Assistance Network, H.A.L.O.S. (Helping All Loved Ones Survive) and the Wake County chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Drivers. Web page visitors can email in recommended updates and new information.

"As more web sites have been added to the world wide web, it’s become more difficult to quickly find helpful documents on a specific subject," said Karen Taylor George, Correction’s Victim Services Director. "We compiled the most helpful victims information we could find on the web and built a system to search it. We believe it’s the only internet search engine that’s devoted exclusively to crime victims."

The Victim Services Web Search Engine hunts for documents in the web pages of federal and state government victim services agencies, as well as web sites set up by crime victims groups. Since it only searches selected web sites, it’s quicker and only provides information on victim’s issues. Visitors to the web page will also be able to suggest other web sites to be included in the Web Search Engine.

The Victim Services Web also provides crime victims with information on the correction department and helpful resources. It is located at http://www.doc.state.nc.us/victimservices/


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