On behalf of the Bureau of Justice Statistics, I would like to welcome you today to the conference on Justice, E-Government, and the  Internet.  This is the second conference that the Bureau of Justice Statistics has hosted in conjunction with SEARCH on the topic of electronic access to information using the Internet.  In November 1997, we met in San Francisco, and all the attendees I spoke to felt it was worthwhile attending, not only for the information and discussions at the conference but also for the many followup resources that SEARCH always provides on its web site after one of these events. 

The four tracks of the agenda, for policymakers, managers, web developers, and system administrators, are also modeled after the San Francisco conference, in response to attendees’ enthusiastic reaction to this arrangement.

I am sure you will find the next three days as interesting, challenging, and productive as was our last conference.  

Pulling together a conference such as this is not an overnight activity.  There are many people involved in making sure that everything runs smoothly, as well as tending to the never-ending last minute items that always seem to pop up.  I would like offer a Texas size  “Thank You” to all those individuals at SEARCH who have worked so hard to ensure that the next three days will be successful.  Particular thanks go to Dave Roberts and Kelly Harris of SEARCH for their hard work in organizing the conference, selecting and inviting the speakers, and riding herd on us speakers to make sure what we have to say is clear, to the point, and within our time limits.  Among the staff of the Bureau of Justice Statistics that are here at the conference, Marshall DeBerry has been our right-hand man on putting this conference together.

I’d also like to thank Aldona Valicenti, Chief Information Officer for the State of Kentucky,  for graciously making time available from her busy schedule to be our keynote speaker today.   She represents a major change that is sweeping the country in the way that government interacts with citizens as technological advances continue to shorten the distance between the two.  All of you, and all of the speakers, are experts in your own areas of involvement with the internet and e-government, and I encourage you to share insights and expertise as to what it will take to make E-government a reality. 

President Clinton made several announcements on Saturday (June 24, 2000) that are directly relevant to this conference.  He usually gives a radio address every Saturday, but this time he gave an internet audio/video webcast – the first time in history.

He announced three Federal initiatives:

First, citizens will be able to search all online resources of the entire Federal government on a central web site called FirstGov.gov.  Currently there are 20,000 Federal web sites, and the new central portal will be up and running in 90 days at no cost to the taxpayers.   Incidently, the Federal statistics agencies already have a centralized portal called FedStats.gov which was highlighted in the President’s announcement.

Second, applications for all Federal grants and procurements will be available electronically at a single web site by the end of the year.

Third, the Presidnet announced a competition for innovative proposals to advance e-government that are user friendly, accessible, cost-effective, secure, and protect privacy of citizens’ personal information.  The top prize is $50,000 and the web site is www.excelgov.org.

As you have seen from the agenda, this year’s conference ranges from technology to issues of public policy, such as security and privacy of information.  Since our first conference on these topics, BJS has funded a number of studies and advisory groups that help bring more information and solid recommendations to the table at this conference.  The recent National Conference on Privacy, Technology and Criminal Justice Information that BJS hosted with SEARCH in late May in Washington DC presented enormously helpful surveys of public opinion about criminal history records and recommendations of a task force on privacy and security of these records. 

It is illuminating  to reflect on the distance we’ve come since 1997.  At that time, a major purpose of the conference was to introduce criminal justice agencies, practitioners, and local officials to capabilities of the Internet they might never have heard about and to explain the technology that made it work, the issues managers needed to address in order to tap into its potential, and the use of the web  for displaying information to the public. 

Today, the Internet is more central than ever to current and future strategies of citizens and organizations in their use and dissemination of information.  With low cost access to a local Internet Service Provider, coupled with the rising availability of high speed information access, a growing number of citizens are increasingly demanding more timely, accurate, and understandable information about government services and the performance of public agencies. They expect us to be just as responsive and informative as the web sites that let them go online, anytime, to buy a book or CD, reserve space on an airline flight, or check on their personal finances.  We have people who send questions to the web site of the Bureau of Justice Statistics in Spanish,  French, or Russian and don’t even comment when we answer them; – plus, we don’t think twice about answering them in English, assuming they will be able to figure out the response.

And very soon, people in the US  will be able to use a personal digital assistant device or cell phone to access information from the web wherever they are.   My own son works for one of the companies that is just about to launch a world-wide wireless network, and he walks around my house with a freestanding web browser in his hand, attached to the internet with no visible sign of any connection.  The internet is inside your house and you don’t even know it yet.

This form of access, which still seems like a mystery to me and perhaps may to you, would be no surprise to our European friends, where such access has been available for some time.  Think of the person who is sitting on a bus and checking the bus timetables and visiting hours at the local jail -- the files she is checking sure better be up to date or we’ll hear about it.  Also, imagine the attorney in the midst of a trial who is checking the background of one of the witnesses – that information had better be up to date and accurate or we’ll hear about it too.

Government agencies are beginning to fully appreciate the benefits of using the Internet to help meet the needs of organizations as well as citizens.  A recent article in The Industry Standard magazine of June 19 highlights the potential benefits that can accrue to governmental organizations through the use of electronic transactions to conduct business.  It is estimated that the Federal government spends $200 billion a year on procurement, and the states spend another $450 billion annually.   In addition,  The Gartner Group research firm estimates that Federal, state, and local governments spend another $90 billion a year on information technology.  When the Naval Supply Systems Command conducted a reverse auction (where potential sellers compete on pricing to win the contract) over the web last month for ejection seats, the Navy estimates that it saved 29 percent on the deal valued at $2.4 million.  In addition, the contract was awarded the same day of the auction.

Justice agencies have also recognized the need to be able to use technology effectively in conducting business interactions both within their organizations as well as  with citizens.   The need to both share and disseminate  appropriate information in a secure and robust manner through networking technologies  is increasingly the way business is being conducted in many justice agencies.   And as the range of criminal justice agencies--law enforcement, district attorneys, the courts and probation offices–become electronically interconnected, this integration of the criminal justice community should better position agencies to be able to effectively provide the level of service that citizens have come to expect from the private sector.  Citizens will increasingly view their ability to access and receive certain electronic services  as the normal way government business should be conducted–and not something to be viewed as an aberration.   What we should begin to witness in the next several years is a true shift from the old-line style of government bureaucracy to the on-line style of government services.

Many have commented about the leveling-out of bureaucratic hierarchies that has been a product of electronic access.  People can communicate directly with low-level staff who are most knowledgeable about their general issue or their own personal case file, and they can communicate directly with his or her next level supervisor to commend or complain about the staffer’s performance.  They can also communicate directly with top level officials who have traditionally been insulated from regular snail mail by a cadre of correspondence staff who process and respond to incoming correspondence without the top official necessarily ever seeing it.