Justice Records Improvement Program
National Criminal History
Improvement Program (NCHIP)
Summary of 2007 awarded activities
The following provides
a description of activities under NCHIP grants for each of the participating States in alphabetical order.
Commonly used acronyms:
- AFIS - Automated Fingerprint Identification System
- CCH - Computerized Criminal History
- GJXDM – Global Justice Exchange Data Model
- IAFIS - Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System
- III - Interstate Identification Index
- NCIC - National Crime Information Center
- NFF - National Fingerprint File
- NIBRS - National Incident-Based Reporting System
- NIEM - National Information Exchange Model
- NIST - National Institute of Standards and Technology
- NICS - National Instant Criminal Background Check System
- NSOR - National Sex Offender Registry
- RAP - Record of Arrest and Prosecution
- SOR - Sex Offender Registry
- XML - Extensible Markup Language
Alabama ($309,761) The Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center will use funds to update and automate case outcomes from courts and prosecutors in State records and the FBI’s Criminal History file. The State will carry out two projects: (1) conduct a disposition review to match court case dispositions to arrest records, and make other improvements. Activities will include process improvements, automation improvements, and oversight of this project and other efforts to improve criminal history records data; and (2) establish a pilot project through the Alabama Administrative Office of the Courts to electronically report indictments and “no bills” to the criminal history repository.
Alaska ($260,000) The Alaska Department of Public Safety (DPS) will transfer funds to the Alaska Court System for the completion of a project involving the electronic sharing of court dispositions using Global Justice XML. Funds will be used to initiate the automated exchange of court records and criminal history data between the Alaska Court System (CourtView) and other criminal justice agencies, including DPS. Court personnel will also provide training and troubleshoot problems regarding CourtView.
Arizona ($430,000) The Arizona Criminal Justice Commission will use funds to complete the third phase of its Arizona Disposition Reporting System (ADRS) project which includes automation enhancements and roll-out to the Phoenix Municipal Court and the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. Some funds will also be used to bring Pinal County’s justice integration and information sharing projects in alignment with the Arizona State Strategic Plan by expanding the capability of the ADRS and developing a tracking capability that links information from county criminal justice agencies to the State repository. These projects will help to improve the accuracy and completeness of criminal history record information in Arizona and in national files.
Arkansas ($146,940) The Arkansas Crime Information Center (ACIC) will use funds to upgrade State fingerprint cards to include information on domestic violence. In addition, Arkansas’ criminal history system will be enhanced to display a domestic violence flag and include victim information on each individual arrest and disposition containing a domestic violence related offense and conviction. ACIC will also reduce the State’s disposition backlog by locating missing dispositions and entering them into the State criminal history repository and transferring the disposition information to the FBI for inclusion in national files.
California ($550,000) The California Department of Justice (DOJ) will use funds to improve accuracy and accessibility of the State's criminal history records through improving court disposition reporting and transmissions of disposition data to the FBI. Funds will used to implement the following projects: (1) Adding thumbprints to dispositions in two counties that submit dispositions electronically; (2) Continuing efforts to support the Administrative Office of the Courts in developing and deploying the California Case Management System to meet the needs of California trial courts. Information sharing improvements will ultimately result in statewide capability of exchanging data with the DOJ; (3) Converting GJXDM conforming schemas to newly adopted National Information Exchange Model (NIEM) standards that will provide a multi-jurisdictional capability to support cross-domain information sharing initiatives; and (4) Automating disposition reporting from the courts in two counties utilizing the newest XCourt technology.
Colorado ($381,962) The Colorado Division of Criminal Justice will use funds to: (1) update older criminal history records for III and NFF compliance; (2) complete necessary programming updates to the State’s secure data delivery system which is used to provide criminal history record information in electronic form to the law enforcement community, the non-criminal justice community, and the public; and, (3) enhance the quality, completeness, and accessibility of Colorado’s Protection Order File system by supporting ongoing efforts to maintain accurate and complete protection order information. Additionally, a small portion of funds will be used to manage and evaluate all proposed projects.
Delaware ($130,000) The Delaware Department of Public Safety will enhance the State's registries that feed the national protection order file in NCIC. Funds will be used: (1) to create a system that will meet the increasing need for accurate arrest and indictment records involving domestic cases by eliminating the possibility that arrest notations will differ from actual submission to the federal repository. This project will create an enhanced interface between the criminal justice database and the livescans to prevent receiving warrants for one set of domestic charges and arrests for a different set of charges; (2) to modify the Law Enforcement Investigative Support System to move the domestic violence reports and complaints into a reporting tool to allow law enforcement officers to quickly identify hot spots and repeat calls, and to allow victim service groups to have more access to domestic reports; and (3) to correct records and eliminate data errors in the criminal history database that, in turn, will improve data in the federal system. Subsequent violations of Protection From Abuse Orders will also be reviewed.
Florida ($260,000) The Florida Department of Law Enforcement will use funds to: (1) contract with a computer programmer to assist, improve, and enhance the reporting of final dispositions from the Florida Clerks of Court; (2) work with the Florida Clerks of Court Association to develop Best Practices for Disposition Reporting and Backlog of Missing Disposition manuals to improve the rate and quality of disposition reporting to the State repository; and (3) continue to develop and enhance the State Sexual Offender/Sexual Predator Unit that feeds information to the FBI’s National Sex Offender Registry.
Georgia ($117,000) The Georgia Bureau of Investigation will use funds to upgrade the statewide Protective Order Registry. Upgrades to the current registry are designed to improve record data quality, expand input capabilities, improve reporting functions, and provide better information sharing for local law enforcement agencies and the NCIC system. The new registry will include all NCIC data fields and allow for one central location for agencies to enter/modify protective order records.
Guam ($20,334) The Guam Judicial Branch will use funds to establish a program to improve the reporting, completeness, and availability of restraining/protection orders involving domestic violence or stalking originating from Guam to the NCIC Protection Order File. The Judiciary of Guam has been unable to submit protection order data on a continuing basis to NCIC due to an insufficient level of locally funded personnel assigned to the Courts and Ministerial Division. This funding is requested on a temporary basis and is necessitated by the need to accomplish the NCHIP goal of submitting protection orders to NCIC.
Hawaii ($303,000) The Hawaii Department of the Attorney General will use funds to: (1) establish an interface between the Records Management Systems of the Hawaii County and Kauai County Police Departments and Hawaii’s Criminal Justice Information System; (2) monitor and improve the transfer of data to the FBI’s III and NFF; and, (3) perform an audit of the State’s criminal history system. In addition, supplemental funds will be used to conduct an audit of Hawaii’s protection order and sex offender databases.
Kansas ($560,000) The Kansas Governor’s Office will use funds to: (1) enter disposition data into the State’s CCH; and, (2) support programming services to integrate local agency systems with the State’s repository, and to connect the repository to the FBI’s III, IAFIS, and NIBRS systems. The State will also expend funds to purchase ten Livescan machines to be used by local law enforcement, booking, and confinement agencies.
Louisiana ($392,591) The Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement will enhance the State Prosecuting Attorneys’ Management Information System (PAMIS) so that information on persons prohibited from possessing and/or purchasing a firearm will be included in the NICS. Some funds will also be used to enhance the State’s Case Management Information System (CMIS) to forward criminal disposition information to NICS and allow other States conducting background checks on Federal Firearm Licensee (FFL) purchases to query Louisiana records transmitted by CMIS to NICS.
Maryland ($338,408) The Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services will use funds to: (1) research and identify existing Arrest and Disposition Reporting (ADR) system records lacking final court dispositions and match arrests to the correct disposition for entry into the State repository; (2) create a process to update ADR with court disposition information for those dispositions (prior to 1992) that have no court tracking number associated with them; (3) continue the statewide external auditing program of criminal justice and noncriminal justice agencies to gauge the quality, completeness, and timeliness of criminal history record information (including fingerprint submissions) to the State repository; (4) conduct criminal history records information checks through the State Archives in response to NICS inquiries for arrests prior to 1984; and (5) purchase two livescan systems to be installed at the State’s Department of Corrections Entry Points to electronically capture inmate incarceration events.
Michigan ($495,165) The Michigan State Police will modify the State’s computerized criminal history system; perform year round audits of local law enforcement and criminal justice agencies’ criminal history record systems; and, implement an interface between the computerized criminal history record system and the State’s sex offender registry.
Missouri ($371,565) The Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Office of State Court Administrators will improve the accuracy and completeness of Missouri’s Criminal History Record System by locating and reporting missing criminal arrests and subsequent case dispositions. Funds will be used to make enhancements to the State’s criminal history reporting systems using the Global Justice Exchange Data Model and XML schemas. In addition, funds will be used for making upgrades to the State's prosecutor reporting system.
Montana ($359,865) The Montana Board of Crime Control will use funds to create an electronic disposition reporting capability between prosecutors, courts, and the State’s criminal history record system. This project will utilize the Integrated Justice Information System (IJIS) Broker, a to-be developed IJIS web interface, and the Court Central Repository to submit electronically all qualifying prosecutor and court records to the Department of Justice’s central records repository. Newly hired repository staff and training staff from the Office of the Court Administrator will develop and conduct the necessary training and quality control programs to ensure that all disposition data submitted is timely, accurate, and complete.
Nebraska ($307,200) The Nebraska State Patrol will use funds to: (1) Automate case outcomes from courts and prosecutors in State records and the FBI’s criminal history file by extracting disposition information from the Case Management System for cases that are not filed by the prosecutors, also called non-filings. (2) Automate access to data concerning persons prohibited from possessing or receiving a firearm, including persons who have been adjudicated as a mental defective or have been committed to a mental institution; are unlawful users of or addicted to any controlled substance; are the subject of protection or restraining orders and/or have been convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence. (3) Modify data elements, database and case management functionality in the Nebraska Probation system, or NPMIS, to improve the automation, reporting, completeness and availability of restraining/protection orders and/or domestic violence misdemeanor convictions.
New York ($600,000) The New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services will use funds to: (1) continue the four phase project to migrate New York State's integrated criminal justice system from a mainframe computer environment to an open architecture platform; this project is a complete overhaul and re-engineering effort of the State's computerized criminal history (CCH) system; and (2) contract with the Administrative Office of the Courts to continue to identify and correct inaccurate court information and reduce the current number of missing dispositions in the State Repository.
Ohio ($350,000) The Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services (OCJS) will use funds to: (1) improve local court infrastructure to be able to share data using the GJXDM and Information Exchange Package documentation; (2) provide a mobile solution to improve access capabilities to criminal history data by integrating agencies’ record management systems; (3) continue efforts to increase the quality of criminal history records through the Quality Assurance Unit via entering of arrest records and fingerprints, identification of records missing arrest or disposition information, and matching those missing information to dispositions from the courts; and (4) train local court clerks on proper reporting requirements, to assist with electronic submissions of dispositions, and help update the State's Livescan record specification and software.
Oklahoma ($120,000) The Oklahoma District Attorneys Council (DAC) will use funds to update and automate case outcomes from courts and prosecutors in State records and FBI’s Criminal History files by developing and enhancing their statewide prosecution case management system. The DAC will include in this project two of the largest districts in the State, District 7 and Oklahoma City’s district, District 21. The DAC will enhance the exchange of criminal justice information to the State’s JustWare Case Management system, the justice information system used by 24 of the 27 district attorney districts. Criminal case information for District 21 will be converted to the JustWare case management system, making information fully integrated and available to all districts. The DAC will also establish an interface for District 7 to link JustWare users with the district data and allow information to be exchanged between them.
Pennsylvania ($351,763) The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) will use funds to transfer oversight and maintenance of the Protection From Abuse Database (PFAD) from its current location at the PA Coalition Against Domestic Violence (PCADV) to the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP). The PFAD is an electronic repository of pleadings and orders of protection from abuse cases available statewide to authorized users (6,900 active users in the State). PFAD provides critical statewide data for analysis by the courts and law enforcement; and creates and disseminates the Pennsylvania State Police Protection From Abuse Summary Data Sheet which is entered into the NCIC Protection Order File. Records from the PFAD are immediately available 24 hours a day/365 days a year via a secured Internet site. Sixty-three of the sixty-seven counties in the State are connected to the PFAD. The PCADV, the PSP, and the PCCD will contract with a vendor to perform a detailed assessment of the current PFAD system in order to create a baseline measure to help PSP with planning for facilities, equipment and resources to maximize the efficiency and minimize the risks pertaining to system relocation and subsequent operations.
Rhode Island ($168,500) The Rhode Island Justice Commission will use funds to: (1) create a criminal history disaster recovery system for both the RI Criminal History system and the RI Law Enforcement Telecommunications System; (2) purchase a portable livescan unit for the RI Office of the Attorney General to be used at courthouses throughout the State to fingerprint defendants; and (3) provide partial support for court staff to enter disposition backlog data into the criminal history repository.
South Carolina ($351,913) The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) will use funds to develop and implement a uniform RAP sheet that is compliant with both GJXDM and NIEM. SLED will develop and implement the GJXDM/NIEM standard for the computerized criminal history input and output transactions that will improve timeliness of criminal records exchange and meet security criteria established by the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division.
South Dakota ($106,500) The South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation will continue to support efforts to reduce repository work backlogs caused by a dramatic increase in the number of requested non-criminal background checks resulting from new legislative mandates regarding school district employees (which doubled the repository's workload). Funding will be used for staff to continue to maintain timely, accurate, and complete criminal history records at the South Dakota criminal repository. In addition, funds will also be used to automate criminal records to include Court Dispositions so this information will be immediately accessible.
Tennessee ($254,954) The Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) will carry out efforts to improve the State's criminal history records. AOC will link and electronically validate data from two databases that receive criminal justice data from trial courts located in all 95 Tennessee counties. This project is intended to provide a clearer picture of a case from indictment to conviction. TBI will use funds to: (1) purchase an online Criminal Justice Information Systems (CJIS) training course for use in training State personnel that have access to FBI CJIS systems; (2) modify the State’s XML Rap Sheet to include data from biometrics, the Sex Offender Registry, Department of Corrections, and the Department of Motor Vehicles; (3) purchase livescan devices for Memphis and Knoxville for assistance in processing fingerprints for criminal and civil matters; and (4) upgrade the V-Lan Switch to handle the increase of internal traffic due to the XML and photo enhancements to the State’s Criminal History System.
Virgin Islands ($150,000) The Virgin Islands Law Enforcement Planning Commission will use funds to upgrade and implement a new more effective, efficient, and secure environment for the transmission and receipt of criminal history record information. With the new system, the Virgin Island’s NCIC network will be able to receive and request more rapid checks and make submissions. Virtual private network (VPN) connections at the St. Croix and St. Thomas police departments will serve as the backbone for the new system. VPN technology will effectively create a “tunnel” through the Internet from one agency to another to transmit NCIC data in an encrypted format.
Virginia ($127,489) The Virginia State Police will use funds to conduct on-line inquiries of the Virginia Supreme Court's Automated Information System in an effort to obtain missing dispositions and post these dispositions to the Computerized Criminal History (CCH) system. In those instances where the Court’s Automated Information System does not contain the disposition, a written request for the missing record is forwarded to the appropriate clerk of court. An automated log is maintained to track requests made to the courts including confirmation of receipt of disposition records, and notification from the courts that a disposition record is not available. These efforts will facilitate the accurate and timely identification of persons who are ineligible to purchase a firearm by creating, correcting, or updating prohibitive or potentially prohibitive criminal records in both the State and Federal systems.
Wisconsin ($283,793) The Wisconsin Office of Justice Assistance will use funds to purchase livescan fingerprint units to automate fingerprint and arrest submissions for several agencies that are still processing prints via cardscan devices or ink and roll. A recent data quality study conducted in the State indicated that felony arrest reporting rates are declining for agencies not utilizing livescan devices. Providing livescan units to targeted agencies across the State will dramatically increase timeliness of arrest reporting to the State repository and better quality electronic images. |
