Justice Records Improvement Program
National Criminal History
Improvement Program (NCHIP)
Summary of 2006 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
- 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 ($400,000) The Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center (ACJIC) will use funds to: (1) improve disposition data storage, match dispositions from court records to State arrest records, and hire additional staff necessary to plan, supervise and complete the disposition matching project; (2) develop a new arrest-to-disposition automated matching routine for the Alabama Criminal History Repository to acquire thousands of additional misdemeanor court dispositions that must be matched to arrest records. (3) develop a program and system for the Administrative Office of Courts to share court dispositions with ACJIC through a dedicated communications line; (4) eliminate a backlog of fingerprint cards awaiting entry into the AFIS system in a more efficient manner that does not require overtime for current employees; (5) collect misdemeanor domestic violence convictions for inclusion in State and national files by automating the misdemeanor court disposition system.
Alaska ($259,944) The Alaska Department of Public Safety will transfer funds to the Alaska Court System for completion of a project involving the electronic sharing of court dispositions using Global Justice XML. Funds will also be used to research and correct missing criminal charge dispositions; upgrade the Error Correction System to become an integral part of the State’s computerized criminal history record system; and, to respond to NICS inquiries.
Arizona ($237,085) The Arizona Criminal Justice Commission will use funds to: (1) develop and implement an automated system to track National Instant Background Check System (NICS) requests, send faxes, and document the results to/from the FBI/NICS; (2) create an interface between the city of Phoenix prosecutor’s case management system and the Arizona Disposition Reporting System; and, (3) develop a computer interface among the Pinal County Attorney’s Office, the courts, and the State repository. These projects will help to improve the accuracy and completeness of criminal history record information in Arizona and national databases.
American Samoa - Did not receive funds in FY 2006.
Arkansas ($117,000) The Arkansas Crime Information Center (ACIC) will transfer funds to the Administrative Office of the Courts to complete a court project that will allow the automatic transmission of case dispositions to ACIC. Modifications will be made to the State’s current file system, which will automatically populate the criminal history repository with correct and timely disposition information and data from the new court system.
California ($900,000) The California Department of Justice will use NCHIP funds to improve the accuracy and accessibility of the State's criminal history records by improving court disposition reporting and the transmission of disposition data to the FBI. The following projects will be implemented with grant funds: (1) add thumbprints to dispositions in four counties that submit dispositions electronically; (2) continue efforts to enable the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) to work with local courts on reporting dispositions to the State; (3) enhance current and develop new court disposition reporting processes; (4) convert the existing Standard Offense Table into XML format to meet GJXDM standards; (5) upgrade the method of submitting data (Machine Readable Data) to the FBI and to conform to the IAFIS standard; and, (6) automate disposition reporting from the courts in three counties utilizing the newest XCourt technology.
Colorado ($356,598) The Colorado Division of Criminal Justice will use funds to: (1) update older criminal history records for III and NFF compliance; and, (2) enhance the quality, completeness, and accessibility of Colorado’s Sex Offender Registry system. The Division of Criminal Justice will also use a portion of awarded funds to manage and evaluate all proposed projects.
Connecticut ($147,760) The Connecticut Office of Policy and Management will use funds to enable automated reporting of domestic violence misdemeanor convictions (including all disposition types) to the NICS. The Judicial Branch database of active and terminated protective orders will be reprogrammed to receive conviction information from the Criminal Records Motor Vehicle System; properly identify qualifying misdemeanor convictions and the offender’s relationship to the victim; and, transmit the offender identification and address information to NICS when applicable. The registry will also be reprogrammed to receive revocation status information from the Firearms Unit Systems, and to display such information to notify courts when firearms have not been surrendered by a defendant subject to a protective order.
Delaware ($95,237) The Delaware Department of Public Safety will use funds to enhance and enable automated reporting of domestic violence misdemeanor convictions. Funds will be used to: (1) capture and flag domestic misdemeanor cases and provide notification to the Department of Justice (DOJ; (2) modify the short form domestic violence report which captures incidents that are not fully substantiated to allow it to be changed into a full report for reclassification purposes; (3) report all domestic violence case dispositions to the FBI to reduce the need for manual research; and, (4) replace old equipment used by the State Police Bureau of Identification Unit to update protection orders filed against individuals, domestic violence cases with conditional dispositions, and identify individuals prohibited from purchasing firearms.
District of Columbia ($265,000) The Metropolitan Police Department will use funds to purchase Event Replicator Software to post arrest data from the current mainframe platform to an Oracle-based platform in real-time. Posted arrests will be linked to final dispositions (also in the Oracle-based platform) available from DC Superior Courts. Additionally, a software application will be implemented to enable searching and reporting of criminal history information to other criminal justice agencies.
Florida ($395,574) The Florida Department of Law Enforcement will use funds to: (1) continue to develop and enhance the State Sexual Offender/Sexual Predator Unit that feeds information to the FBI’s National Sex Offender Registry; (2) work with the Florida Clerks of Court Association to improve the rate of disposition reporting to the State repository; and, (3) identify problematic judicial records to improve disposition matching, flagging of records for the NICS, and improve the overall quality and accuracy of existing records.
Georgia ($355,750) The Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Crime Information Center will use funds to: (1) develop, in collaboration with the Prosecuting Attorney’s Council, a prosecutor interface system to ensure that local prosecutors have the ability to electronically submit final disposition data and charge initiation information; and, (2) expand the ability to access sex offender information by converting paper files maintained by local sheriff’s offices and storing them in the State’s Image Archive System.
Guam ($20,334) The Guam Judicial Branch will use funds to improve the completeness of restraining/protection orders involving domestic violence or stalking originating in Guam and the reporting of qualifying records to the NCIC Protection Order File. The following information will be submitted to the NCIC: (1) arrest warrants for persons violating protection orders that are intended to protect victims from stalking or domestic violence; (2) convictions of persons violating protection orders; and, (3) orders issued for the protection of stalking or domestic violence victims.
Hawaii ($315,656) The Hawaii Department of the Attorney General will use funds to: (1) establish interfaces between the courts and the judicial information system, Hawaii’s Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS) and the Honolulu Prosecuting Attorneys’ Offices, the Department of Public Safety, and the State’s correctional facilities; (2) monitor and improve the transfer of data to the FBI’s III; (3) research missing dispositions; (4) perform an audit of the State’s criminal history programs; and, (5) conduct an audit of Hawaii’s protection order and sex offender databases and validate information in an effort to achieve participation in the NCIC Protection Order File.
Idaho - Did not receive funds in FY 2006.
Illinois ($408,182) The Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority will award funds to the Illinois State Police to automate and improve the case management, processing, and communication/reporting of civil orders of protection cases arising from domestic violence. Funding will be used to develop a model domestic violence/order of protection system to improve and automate the handling, processing and reporting of these cases. A database conversion project will be conducted and an interactive domestic violence electronic application will be developed for litigants to improve completion of petitions. Funding will also be used to automate the processing of emergency orders of protection in two Cook County municipal districts (Bridgeview and Markham). In addition, the Cook County Clerk’s Office will create an electronic interface between its criminal case management system and the Cook County Sheriff’s Office system to process orders more quickly and notify the NCIC of case dispositions. The project will eliminate several manual data entry steps in the filing of protection orders.
Indiana ($259,877) The Indiana Criminal Justice Institute will build a new statewide protection order registry called POR-Incite, modeled after a successful project in the State of Connecticut (CT-POR). The registry is an electronic database and notification system of orders for individual protection issued or registered with State authorities. The Indiana Division of State Court’s Judicial Technology Automation Committee (JTAC) and the Indiana State Police will use Connecticut’s registry as a model and construct a system that integrates the courts with State and local law enforcement agencies. The proposed system will be web-based and enable authorized users to initiate a name-based search of Indiana’s online statewide law enforcement communication system, “IDACS,” to determine whether or not a person of interest was the subject of a protection order. State records will also be forwarded for inclusion in the FBI's NCIC Protection Order File.
Iowa - Did not receive funds in FY 2006.
Kansas ($407,220) The Kansas Governor’s Office will use funds to: (1) enter disposition data into the State’s CCH; and, (2) contract with a vendor to provide programming services to integrate local agency systems with the State’s criminal record repository, and to connect the repository to the FBI’s III, IAFIS, and NIBRS systems.
Louisiana ($368,005) The Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement, in cooperation with the Integrated Criminal Justice Information System Policy Board and the Louisiana Supreme Court, will enhance the Louisiana Statewide Protective Order Program and initiate efforts to collect misdemeanor domestic violence conviction records for entry into the State's Case Management Information System.
Maine - Did not receive funds in FY 2006.
Maryland - Did not receive funds in FY 2006.
Massachusetts ($550,000) The Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety will use funds to: (1) develop and implement a process and supporting technology by which offenders are uniquely identified by the Offense Based Tracking Number and State Identification Number throughout the course of the criminal rapsheet, with the goal of supporting all criminal dispositions with fingerprint identification and submission to the FBI; and (2) provide access to four remaining counties in the State to the new prosecutor’s case management system which allows for electronic entry of police reports and other related case information.
Michigan ($475,590) The Michigan State Police will use funds to: (1) modify the State’s computerized criminal history system; (2) perform year round audits of local law enforcement and criminal justice agencies’ criminal history record systems; and, (3) research missing disposition information.
Minnesota - Did not receive funds in FY 2006.
Mississippi - Did not receive funds in FY 2006.
Missouri ($338,694) The Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Office of State Courts Administrator will use funds to improve the accuracy and completeness of Missouri’s Criminal History Record System by locating and reporting on missing criminal arrests and subsequent case dispositions. Funds will also be used to make enhancements to the State Sex Offender Registry; improve State criminal history reporting systems by building XML capabilities; and upgrade the prosecutor’s reporting system.
Montana ($130,000) The Montana Board of Crime Control will use funds to improve information exchanges between prosecutors, courts, and corrections that are classified as reportable events to the State’s criminal history records repository and the FBI. Primarily, funds will be used to automate the Department of Corrections pre-sentence investigation report and create a sharable electronic disposition system in the courts. Relevant information in the disposition will be posted immediately to the State’s criminal history record system, thereby improving the utility, availability, accuracy, completeness, and timeliness of Montana’s criminal history records.
Nebraska ($204,085) The Nebraska State Patrol will use funds to automate access to information concerning persons prohibited from possessing or receiving a firearm by developing an integrated system that would automatically flag certain records in the criminal history database based on a new concealed weapons permit law. The flag would alert Nebraska Criminal Identification Division record technicians that the permit holder has been arrested so that the criminal justice process can be monitored for possible permit revocation or suspension action. Funds will also be used to modify the State's sex offender registry to allow data to be shared electronically with the Nebraska Criminal Justice Information System. Additionally, funds will be used to enhance information sharing from the Nebraska Probation System to help track offenders and share records with law enforcement agencies.
Nevada ($93,391) The Nevada Department of Highway Safety will use funds to improve criminal history record information by addressing two challenges to becoming FBI NFF-certified. One challenge that must be addressed is a court disposition backlog that has developed over several years due to a lack of staff and funding. This backlog stands at approximately 118,327 disposition records containing 190,506 charges. The second challenge involves a backlog of error corrections related to III records requiring manual intervention. These errors (approximately 30,497) occur as the result of attempted synchronization between State and FBI criminal history records. These challenges are being addressed as the Multi-County Integrated Justice Information System (MC-IJIS) project is being implemented. MC-IJIS is an electronic interface developed by the Administrative Office of the Courts and the Department of Public Safety.
New Hampshire ($84,691) The New Hampshire Department of Justice will use funds to improve the reporting, completeness, and availability of restraining/protection orders. Funding will support review and data input work at the New Hampshire Administrative Office of the Courts to ensure that domestic violence, and stalking restraining orders are entered into the State's criminal justice information system and forwarded to the FBI's NCIC Protection Order File.
New Jersey - Did not receive funds in FY 2006.
New Mexico - Did not receive funds in FY 2006.
New York ($800,000) 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 system; and, (2) provide financial support to 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.
North Carolina ($200,000) Funds will be the North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts to continue the development and implementation of a new Criminal Court Information System (CCIS) to replace the outdated Automated Criminal Infraction System (ACIS) currently operated by the courts in North Carolina. The State has a unified court system in which all 100 county court clerks use ACIS to input and transmit disposition and adjudication information to the central State repository. The current system is not able to keep up with the increasing volume of cases being processed through the courts, nor is it able to expand to incorporate new functionalities. This new system will greatly improve the accuracy and timely reporting of all court data into an electronic database accessible to all law enforcement agencies.
North Dakota - Did not receive funds in FY 2006.
Northern Mariana Islands - Did not receive funds in FY 2006.
Ohio ($271,343) The Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services will use funds to continue Quality Assurance Unit functions to increase disposition reporting from local law enforcement agencies and courts to the central State repository. Funds will be used to supporting scanning and entering of arrest records and to identifying those records missing arrest or disposition information. In addition, funds will be used for consultants to continue training local court clerks on proper reporting requirements, to assist with electronic submissions of dispositions, and to help update the State's livescan record specification and software.
Oklahoma ($153,600) The Oklahoma District Attorney’s Council (DAC) will update and automate case outcomes from courts and prosecutors in State records and FBI Criminal History files by developing and enhancing their statewide prosecution case management system. Interfaces will be created to enhance the criminal justice information system exchanged between prosecutors, State systems and the FBI for Oklahoma, Tulsa, Cleveland, McClain, and Garvin Counties. Software to improve business continuity and reduce duplicate records in the case management system will be built. The DAC will also use funds for new backup computer hardware for an interface to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation’s Oklahoma Law Enforcement Exchange System.
Oregon - Did not receive funds in FY 2006.
Pennsylvania ($534,880) The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency will use funds to: (1) continue expansion of the Juvenile Tracking System to allow additional counties to submit juvenile criminal history information to the III through the State’s central record repository; and (2) continue efforts to fully implement the Pennsylvania's Protection From Abuse Database by improving and expanding access for authorized users and by identifying persons who are wanted for stalking or domestic violence offenses.
Puerto Rico ($300,000) Puerto Rico’s Criminal Justice Information Systems Office will use funds to create an automated protection order file and a warrants file that will interface with the territory’s Computerized Criminal History repository and background check system, and transmit qualifying records to the FBI's NCIC Hot Files.
Rhode Island ($130,000) The Rhode Island Justice Commission will use funds to: (1) create an interface to enable the Information Charging Unit to query an arrest record in the Rhode Island Criminal History (RICH) system to insure that all charges are entered properly and allow all felony dispositions to be entered into the RICH system from the court system without any user intervention; and, (2) purchase necessary hardware for a new law enforcement telecommunications system to handle all in-state transmission of fingerprint data to and from the criminal history as well as interstate transmission to the AFIS database in Connecticut.
South Carolina ($65,262) The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) will use funds to continue development of an electronic mechanism to transmit involuntary commitment record information from the probate courts to the FBI Denied Persons File (via SLED). SLED will contract with five probate courts, with the help of the Judicial Department, to create a secure Web site for data entry.
South Dakota ($137,066) The South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation will support State efforts to implement, expand and upgrade Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) technology. Funds will be used to convert archived images to enable IAFIS implementation with the FBI. Funds will also help reduce work backlogs caused by increased non-criminal background check applications resulting from legislative mandates regarding school district employees (which has doubled the repository's workload). Funds will also be used to automate manual records to include court dispositions that are accessible to local, State, Federal, and other requesters.
Tennessee ($252,778) Funds will be used by the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) to aid the State in its efforts to improve the quality of criminal history records. AOC will continue work on its criminal justice web portal project (Phase II) including the provision of query access to the Protection Order, driver license history, and the Wanted Persons files. AOC will also use funds to carry out Phase I (Analysis) of its automated case judgment document project. TBI will use funds to convert the State’s Protection Order File into an XML-based data repository. Moving the files from information storage into an enhanced environment will allow law enforcement to use the data for analysis and investigative purposes.
Texas - Did not receive funds in FY 2006.
Utah ($207,610) The Utah Commission on Crime and Juvenile Justice will use funds to: (1) research and update missing disposition data from the courts to be included into the Utah Computerized Criminal History system; (2) provide timely and complete information to the State’s protection order file and the national database using web services and the Global Justice XML Data Model; and, (3) integrate the current criminal history file with the justice court’s case management system to ensure all arrests reach the Utah courts and improve reporting (particularly domestic violence misdemeanor convictions) to the criminal history file.
Vermont - Did not receive funds in FY 2006.
Virgin Islands - Did not receive funds in FY 2006.
Virginia ($365,496) The Virginia State Police will use funds to: (1) enhance electronic disposition and protection order submissions from the courts; (2) research, resolve, and update missing dispositions in the computerized criminal history (CCH) system to improve NICS checks; (3) conduct in-depth research of dispositions to determine whether prohibiting factors conform with State and Federal laws; and, (4) expand and enhance outreach activities and NICS accessibility at gun shows.
Washington - Did not receive funds in FY 2006.
West Virginia - Did not receive funds in FY 2006.
Wisconsin ($243,621) The Wisconsin Office of Justice Assistance will use funds to: (1) continue implementation of a prosecutor case management system in Milwaukee and create an electronic interface to the statewide prosecutor system; (2) implement the identification for firearm sales disqualifier flag to quickly determine from individuals’ criminal history records whether they are prohibited from purchasing a firearm; and, (3) upgrade the State’s XML-based rapsheet to allow for the setting and transmittal of the firearm sales disqualifier flag.
Wyoming ($76,901) The Wyoming Office of the Attorney General, Division of Criminal Investigation will use funds to: (1) implement the necessary programming changes in the state’s criminal history system to become a participant of the National Fingerprint File; and, (2) enhance the interface between the State's criminal history file and its AFIS system to support additional FBI IAFIS functionality (transaction types) not currently available.
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