Karpel gives criminal justice system better access to information 09/14/2007 – Post Dispatch, Business Section The company - Karpel Solutions is an information technology consulting firm specializing in software for customer service management, scheduling and record keeping. It also offers IT network services and support. The project - Between 1999 and 2005, the company custom-designed, installed and upgraded case-management technology for prosecutors in the city of St. Louis and St. Louis County. Based on that work, Karpel Solutions last year won a bid to roll out the system in 64 county prosecutors' offices statewide. Success in those offices has sparked interest in others — President and Chief Executive Jeff Karpel now estimates the product will be installed in more than 70 of the state's 114 counties by the end of next year. The challenge - Prosecutors traditionally work with computerized record systems that separately track each felony case, rather than linking individuals and all of their encounters with law enforcement, Karpel said. As a result, prosecutors may miss important facts. For example, a defendant-turned-witness in a drug case is being prosecuted for assault, has failed to pay property taxes and is behind on his child support. "Once you know what this party's history is, maybe your stellar witness … might not be all that great of a witness after all," Karpel said. There also are efficiency problems: Old software typically isn't shared across the criminal justice system, so data must be entered by police, re-entered by prosecutors and then typed in again by the court system. This wastes time and can induce errors. The inspiration - Karpel admires the work of law enforcement and was eager to help when confronted with the system's IT challenges. "A lot of states are far behind (in technology), so their prosecutors are ill-equipped to handle large case volumes. They're overworked and underpaid and they're not armed with all the information they need to do their jobs well and protect society," Karpel said. "They're the real talents. … We're just the computer geeks who make it easier for them in some ways." What he did - Karpel designed the system, then worked with his firm's director of Oracle solutions, Joe Heltibrand, to create it. The software, ProsecutorbyKarpel, allows prosecutors to search for a name and instantly find all of that person's law enforcement contacts, whether as a defendant, victim or witness. It also provides a direct interface for police departments, the courts and Missouri State Highway Patrol for electronic communication, filing and reporting. The system uses an Oracle database platform and Microsoft Office products, so it's fast to install and easy for people to use, Karpel said. His firm is rolling it out in about two counties a month, including training sessions. Progress report - There are a limited number of Missouri counties with large enough caseloads to justify using ProsecutorbyKarpel. So the company is preparing to showcase it at the National Association for Justice Information Systems conference in October to woo customers in other states. Karpel said his goal is to win contracts with two to three large cities next year, once the work in Missouri is completed. Rachel Melcer | Post-Dispatch