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June 24, 2010
Leon County MIS Wins International Computerworld Award
The Leon County Board of County Commissioners’ Management Information Systems (MIS) Division has won the 2009 International Computerworld Award for its North Florida Pawn Network, a program that was nominated by multinational information technology giant IBM. This award follows several other accolades the program received, including an InfoWorld Award and a National Association of Counties (NACO) Achievement Award.
The County was honored at the 22nd Annual Laureates Medal Ceremony & Gala Awards, last week at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C., joining 150 other laureates from 22 countries.
The Computerworld Honors Program (formerly the Smithsonian Awards) acknowledges individuals and organizations that have used information technology to benefit society, bringing together leaders of the world's foremost information technology companies to recognize the most outstanding user achievements in technology every year.
The Leon County Board of County Commissioners’ submission, the North Florida Pawn Network (NFPN), was implemented in cooperation with the Leon County Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to provide law enforcement agencies a multi-jurisdictional pawned property management system within Florida.
This system is low-cost and easy to use, yet it is a robust investigative tool and has been instrumental in solving crimes and returning stolen property statewide. The system spans from Walton County to Marion County, encompassing more than 20 other counties as active partners, but all of Florida’s 67 counties have benefitted from the effort.
“Just being nominated is a remarkable achievement by our MIS staff and partner agencies, but this win is extraordinary, and we are extremely proud of our team’s hard work,” said County Administrator Parwez Alam. “We have been recognized on an international scale, and that speaks volumes about the kind of work our staff is doing for the citizens of Leon County.”
Leon County MIS’ submission will become part of the Computerworld Honors Program Global Archives and will be added to more than 350 university and national archives.
“This is a great honor, and we are thankful to IBM for the nomination,” said Leon County MIS Director Pat Curtis. “Our team worked extremely hard on this project and we are proud to join some of the most innovative organizations and people in the world who use technology to promote positive social, economic and educational change.”
Computerworld is the leading source of technology news and information worldwide. It leads the industry with an online audience of more than three million unique, monthly visitors and a print audience of more than a million readers each issue.