A pilot program to connect various agencies means the sheriff's department can upgrade software without using local tax dollars.

The Plymouth County Sheriff's Department will be spending $31,809 to update its software system, but that cost will be incorporated as part of a statewide Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS) pilot program.

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Without involvement in the program, the sheriff's department would have to spend $20,000 of the taxpayers money to upgrade its aging software system.

"It's been about three generations behind on the software," said Shawn Olson, Plymouth County IT director. "It is an upgrade that would have to be done."

With the upgrades, which will bring the department up to par with today's standards, the sheriff's department can participate in CJIS.

Craig Bartolozzi, chief deputy with the sheriff's department, said with CJIS, the jail, the county attorney, the clerk of courts and the judicial system will be able to send and receive information on an electronic highway.

Out of the 99 counties in Iowa, Plymouth County will be the first to test the CJIS system.

"We were contacted by the CJIS group and asked if we would be willing to participate in the pilot program," Olson said. "We will be the first one on the sheriff's association database."

Right now information that will be passed on CJIS will be bond information that will be sent between the court and the jail, Olson said.

"The information will be electronically sent to the jail," he said. "It will be reviewed and accepted and placed right into their current system."

That will cut down on manpower hours as the information won't have to be typed on one end and then retyped when it gets to the jail system, Bartolozzi said.

Iowa isn't the only state involved in CJIS, Olson said, and after the pilot program more counties throughout the state will come on board to have more sources using CJIS.

Information passed through CJIS will be limited to include items like names, addresses and charges of individuals.

"It's more timely. It's less paper," Bartolozzi said. "It's just a much more efficient system."