BELTON - Victims of crime in Bell County have the ability to be notified within seven minutes of their assailants’ release from jail.

The notification system called VINE - Victim Information and Notification Everyday - is paid for by the Texas Attorney General’s Office.

“We have a card that we send out with every crime victim that has all the information people need to know about VINE,” said Jill Hargrove, Bell County victims’ coordinator.

Information about jail and prison inmates is made available to crime victims and other concerned citizens who register by calling 1-877-TX4-VINE or online at www.vinelink.com.

If, for example, an offender is about to be let out of jail or coming up for a parole hearing, the VINE system will notify the person who has signed up for the service.

“Before VINE, victims were always asking when they (the perpetrators) would get out of jail,” Ms. Hargrove said. “Since it’s been in operation, we’ve only had one victim that called us and said he (a perpetrator) got out and no one notified (them).”

The service is free to participants, with a live operator available to assist callers 24 hours a day. Callers also may use an automated menu, which is available in English and Spanish.

The system will call a victim every two hours until a PIN number is entered verifying the correct person received the call.

Texas’ VINE program started in 2000.

Ms. Hargrove said victims of violent crimes are not the only ones using the system.

“Every type of crime has used it,” she said. “If somebody’s been writing hot checks, the victims want to know (when a perpetrator is released). If a home has been burglarized, believe me, the people who are victims want to know when that person is released from jail.”

Bell County does not track how many people use the VINE system.

“Hopefully in the next few years, we can get the courts involved and let people know about their court dates,” said Chuck Cox, lieutenant for the Bell County Sheriff’s Office.