RALEIGH – The North Carolina Department of Corrections is using a new computer program that alerts probation officers when someone on probation gets into more trouble with the law.

In March, Demario Atwater was arrested and charged with killing UNC-CH Student Body President Eve Carson. Atwater was on probation at the time and had been arrested twice on other charges in the months before Carson's murder.

But the probation violations got lost in the system, leaving Atwater on the streets where he could keep committing crimes.

“Before [the new program], because there were so many things the officer had to do in order to receive this information, there probably were some gaps in receiving the information,” Cynthia Williams, chief of support services for the Division of Community Corrections, said.

With the new computer program in place, probation officers will now be able to see their entire caseload on one computer screen, with red alerts around offenders who have new run-ins with the law.

“[Probation officers] used to have to go to the court data, log in, and check on each [offender], one-by-one,” Cindy Cousins, application systems manager for the Department of Corrections, said. “Now, instead of having to check on everybody, it's brought to their attention the ones that actually had some criminal activity or possible criminal activity the night before.”

The new system even alerts probation officers' supervisors if they don't log in to check on their offenders.

“We have tools that help monitor to make sure the officers are looking at their lists on a day-to-day basis,” Cousins said. “So you can make sure nothing slips through the cracks.”

Currently, the new computer program just alerts probation officers if arrest warrants were issued for one of their offenders. Next week, the state plans to add less serious offense information like traffic violations.

All probation officers will be trained how to use the new program by the end of the year.

It cost the state about $75,000.