Office of Planning and Budgeting
CJDT Implementation Assistance Program
The Florida Legislature created 900.05 and 943.6871, Florida Statutes, that establish a framework for an expanded criminal justice data collection and sharing system that became known as a Criminal Justice Data Transparency (CJDT) initiative. The goal of the CJDT initiative is to increase public visibility of criminal justice processes throughout the state and to provide policymakers with the information they need to make informed policy decisions. The legislation directs the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) to collect and publish CJDT data received from contributing state and local agencies. In addition, this legislation requires FDLE to establish a uniform arrest affidavit (UAA) with specifications for state, county, and municipal law enforcement agencies to use for criminal offense arrest reporting.
The CJDT and UAA projects are designed to implement solutions to collect, process, and make available complete, accurate, and timely criminal justice data submitted by state and local law enforcement agencies. As FDLE moves forward to comply with this mandate, the Legislature appropriated additional funding to assist with this transition. Grants for technical assistance to county detention facilities may be used to assist with updating Jail Management Systems (JMS) and other expenses necessary to provide compatibility with the criminal justice data collection and reporting requirements that comply with legislative requirements.
Eligible activities for this funding may include but are not limited to:
- Overtime for project staff;
- Equipment or supplies required for system upgrades;
- JMS Training and travel; and/or
- Procurement contracts for services such as migration, system configuration, and/or consulting
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement encourages applicants to maximize CJDT funds, where possible, such as grouping entities together that have the same Jail Management System (JMS) software vendor.