Gov. Bev Perdue July 30 announced significant reforms to the probation system that will speed the process of obtaining warrants for parole commission violators and put more information into the hands of law enforcement officers on the streets.

These reforms include the following changes:

• The Post-Release Supervision and Parole Commission will respond to requests for warrants within 24 hours;

• Probation officers will receive a response to a violation report within that same 24 hours;

• If a warrant is issued it will be entered into the DCI network immediately; and

• Law enforcement officers across North Carolina will have immediate access to information about probationers and prison inmates on their vehicle computers whenever a license check is conducted.

In addition, the governor signed Senate Bill 920, her proposal to:

• Allow probation officers the authority to perform warrantless searches on supervised probationers;

• Give law enforcement officers the ability to perform warrantless searches if they have reasonable suspicion that the probationer is engaged in criminal activity or possesses a weapon without written court permission;

• Allow probation officers limited access to juvenile criminal records, providing them with better insight into the risks offenders pose;

“With these changes, law enforcement and probation officers will have immediate access to probation information and will be better prepared to protect themselves and their communities,” Perdue said. “These reforms will strengthen our probation system and make our communities safer.”

“This kind of access to information is crucial for the safety of our officers, our law enforcement partners and the public,” said Correction Secretary Alvin Keller. “No longer will probation violators be able to hide from the system.”

Also today, Governor Perdue announced that information from the Department of Correction offender database of more than 1.1 million criminal offenders is being shared with the law enforcement community via the DCI network.

Since the computer system for law enforcement vehicles was activated on June 24, officers have entered roughly 128,000 queries and 1,146 probation absconders have been arrested.