Connecting with police network can aid in crime-fighting, Troy officials say
By KENNETH C. CROWE II, Staff writer First published in print: Saturday, May 9, 2009
TROY — Linking the state's motor vehicle and police computers could help track down missing felons, two Rensselaer County officials said Friday.
County Clerk Frank Merola and State Sen. Roy J. McDonald, R-Saratoga, announced support for the computer connection.
Merola began pushing the computer ties this week after learning that Robert T. Henry, who escaped from a Tennessee prison 29 years ago, came to the Rensselaer County Department of Motor Vehicles office several times for transactions.
Merola would like to see the DMV computers linked to the State Police Information Network to show both outstanding criminal warrants and traffic violations.
"If Mr. Henry had a parking ticket in Buffalo, he would not have received that renewal,'' Merola said.
McDonald said he would introduce legislation Monday to mandate the sharing of information between DMV and the network.
McDonald said the measure is aimed at protecting the public by helping to identify when a criminal comes into the DMV office.
Merola said Henry had proper Social Security information and a birth certificate when he came to the DMV office.
State DMV reviewed linking the systems and determined that it created safety issues, said Ken Brown, an agency spokesman.
Henry was arrested by police Monday in a Jefferson Street apartment while talking to Tennessee authorities on the phone.
Henry was not listed on national wanted lists when he escaped from a Nashville jail in 1980, authorities said. As a result, when Henry was arrested in drunken-driving incidents in Troy and Syracuse, police did not learn he was a long-time escapee.
Henry is being held in the Rensselaer County Jail. He is awaiting a court hearing on whether he should be extradited to Tennessee.
