Oregon Sends 8K Mistaken Alerts to Crime Victims

A "major technical glitch" in Oregon's crime victim notification system triggered thousands of false notices yesterday evening about the release of inmates, including one on a notorious killer. KGW-TV reported that inmate Ward Weaver III was the subject of an erroneous alert. Corrections officials, however, confirmed that Weaver—convicted of aggravated murder in 2004 for the deaths of two young Oregon girls—remains locked up. A spokeswoman told KTVZ-TV that there were about 8,000 erroneous notifications that inmates were being released.

"Routine system maintenance appears to have triggered numerous notifications to victims in error," the Corrections Department said in a statement. The problem occurred in Oregon's Victim Information and Notification Everyday (VINE) system. The state said service contractor Appriss was working on repairs and planned to alert everyone who received bad information. Oregon launched the statewide VINE service in 2001, becoming the 11th state to adopt it, the Corrections Department said. In addition to inmates in state Corrections Department facilities, it monitors offenders held in county jails, Oregon Youth Authority facilities, and individuals on community supervision. (More Oregon stories.)