The state of Vermont is launching a new automated system for notifying crime victims when offenders are released or move.
VANS – the Vermont Automated Notifications System – will send e-mails to registered crime victims and allow people to call in to a telephone number to check on the status of offenders. Anyone can use the system, not just those victimized.
Susan Russell, a victim of a 1992 kidnapping and sexual assault who appeared with Gov. Jim Douglas at a news conference on Tuesday, said she will want to know when her attacker is released from prison.
The state is using $400,000 in federal money to pay for the program, contracting with a Kentucky company to run the database. Vermont’s the 40th state to launch such a system.