Prosecutor software set to run June 15

EPHRATA — The installation of new software for the Grant County Prosecutor’s Office and the Department of Public Defense will start on June 15.

The Damion software was approved as part of the county’s 2009 budget at the suggestion of former Prosecutor John Knodell, according to the Grant County commissioners’ office. The software cost the county about $120,000 for both the prosecutor and defender versions.

The new software will electronically store case records.

Prosecutor Angus Lee also supported purchasing the software, saying it would cut down on the amount of paper in the office by storing everything electronically.

“We’re paying for paper,” he said in a January interview. “We’re paying for printing and we’re dealing with a delay. It takes time to physically build these files … (The new program is) going to save a lot in time and we’re going to be able to track our cases better. It’s going to drastically reduce our need for data entry.”

He also said the software should eliminate problems with lost police reports by reminding prosecutors about them. A recent internal audit turned up 149 possible cases where the statute of limitations ran out.

“One of reasons we’re putting in our new case management system is that when a case comes in we are constantly made aware of what the status of the case is and we will have reminders that come up, when a case comes in and it’s not reviewed and charged within a matter of days,” Lee told the Grant County commissioners on Tuesday.

While there have been allegations about the software not working on the county’s servers, Gary Baker, the county’s director of technology, said there’s no signs of problems.

“We had meetings with the vendors regarding the Damion software,” he said. “The specifications for the hardware were discussed.”

He also determined the software would run on servers with virtualization. Virtualization allows one server to act as several servers, saving the county on electricity costs and new server costs, Baker said. The vendors told him the software would work.

“In the past whenever you bought a piece of software that required its own server, you had to buy a separate server,” he said. “In today’s world, you don’t just buy a server for one application. It’s cheaper for electricity and cheaper for space if you virtualized.”

There is also no “leakage” between virtual servers, he said.

Baker said he wasn’t sure when the installation would be finished, but it was scheduled to start on June 15.

Lee said the prosecutor’s office would be careful about placing the case information onto the system.

“We’re not rushing on this,” he said. “This is the type of thing you have to make sure you’re doing it right.”