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Promising Practices | Funding 2009-2015 | State-by-State Summaries  |  Past Summaries  | NARIP Contact Addresses

Promising practices by states for improved record reporting

The BJS website now has information on promising practices by several states for improved record reporting to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). This information responds to requirements in the NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007 (P.L. 110-180) and the recent GAO Report, Gun Control: Sharing Promising Practices and Assessing Incentives Could Better Position Justice to Assist States in Providing Records for Background Checks (GAO-12-684). The promising practices involve identifying, collecting, maintaining, automating, and transmitting information that determines whether a person is prohibited by federal or state law from possessing or receiving a firearm, and that improves the availability of these records to national systems. Several practices focus on how to improve reporting of mental health information while others address how to determine relevant records, how to facilitate broader coordination, or other process improvement efforts.

Arizona - Creating a SharePoint Site to Coordinate NICS Work
Arizona - Creating County Record Briefs Focused on the Completeness of Criminal History Records for NICS Disqualifying Data
Connecticut - Using Visual Flow Charts to Document "As Is" Data Flow
Florida - Identifying Disqualifying Mental Health Dispositions
Illinois - Improve Tracking of Involuntary Commitments
New Jersey-  Civil Commitment Automated Tracking System (CCATS)
New York - Automate Communication Between Mental Health Record Holders and NICS Index
New York - Establish a Misdemeanor Crime of Domestic Violence through Legislation
Oregon - Implementing Live Scan Devices in Courts to Improve Record Matching
Texas - Conducting Training & Outreach with Court Clerks
Virginia - Automate Mental Health Record Transfer to Repository

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NICS Act Record Improvement Program (NARIP) Awards FY 2009-2015

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State-by-State Summaries for FY 2015 NICS Act Record Improvement Program (NARIP)

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
NGI - Next Generation Identification
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
XML - Extensible Markup Language

The following provides a description of activities under NARIP grants for each of the States receiving funds in alphabetical order.

Alabama ($349,000) The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) will use funds for phase III of improving the state's CCH to provide the FBI, state and local law enforcement agencies, and other criminal justice agencies with accurate and up-to-date information directly related to NICS checks. Manual matching of criminal history data has resulted in a major backlog of historical criminal history information in Alabama. Phases I and II established the central data repository for mental health data and set forth a standard for the electronic submission of the data to the central repository. Phase III will establish an alternative submission method for Probate Judges who have systems that cannot interface with the new repository due to the age of their legacy systems. Similarly, phase III of the domestic violence data processing component will address issues with legacy municipal systems that are not able to upload the data standards that were set forth in previous project phases. In addition, phase III will address the issue of automating the vast amount of backlogged historical data into the CCH. This will dramatically increase the amount of data that Alabama is able to have within its CCH system that will be subsequently submitted to NICS for appropriate denial of firearm purchases. Funds will be used to: 1) improve data quality and completeness of the Mental Health Repository; 2) automate the process of linking mental health adjudication records with the CCH system; and, 3) develop a court-wide data entry portal to obtain and maintain all relevant data in a consistent electronic format. The mental health and domestic violence projects will be completed with ALEA as the primary agency providing leadership and subject matter expertise and the University of Alabama Center for Advanced Public Safety (UA-CAPS) as the technology partner.

Arizona ($1,708,556) The Arizona Criminal Justice Commission (ACJC), in collaboration with the Arizona Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) and Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS), will conduct several projects to improve completeness, accuracy and accessibility of criminal history records in the AZ CCH system and III. Funds will be used to carry out the following projects: 1) Continue Multi-Agency Planning & Oversight NICS Task Force: A consultant will be retained to continue progress in achieving project goals guided by the AZ NICS Task Force and Records Improvement Plan. Support from a System Analyst is required to continue gathering critical information to establish requirements, functional specifications, and technical design recommendations for Global Reference Architecture, NIEM compliant segmented criminal record data exchanges. 2) Continue NICS Improvement Plan Collaboration with NICS Task Force Stakeholders: The Task Force sub-committees will continue in developing a strategic plan by addressing challenges and gaps identified through analysis, including: records research and analysis, legal, privacy, and policy. 3) Continue Technical Assistance (TA) Visits to 14 Counties: The ACJC, with DPS and AOC, will provide follow-up TA visits to 14 counties to continue to address missing records for the ACCH. The TA visits delivered baseline statistics through county score cards to establish countywide focus for records improvements. The sessions will assist counties in developing process improvements for the business and system challenges in record reporting. 4) Automate 5,000 records: Automating the records provides the information required by NICS to identify felony convictions, drug arrests and convictions of misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence. Funding will be used to automate 5,000 criminal history records in addition to purchasing nine ICM-SCAN licenses to enable Repository employees to scan from their work stations to provide a quicker response when a NICS inquiry is received. 5) Develop an Automated System for Orders of Protection (OP) Process: The ACJC, with the AOC and DPS, will develop a comprehensive integrated system to automate the OP process once they have been issued by the court and authorized by the petitioner. 6) Develop Solutions to Causes of Missing Criminal History Records: The ACJC, DPS and DOC will migrate the GAP Reporting process (retroactive process for creating criminal history records) from using the current spreadsheet into an online system that would be maintained at DPS. The ACJC, DOC and DPS will enhance the program through an on-line system that would enable real-time updates and automated notifications to interested courts and law enforcement.

Delaware ($74,000) The Delaware Department of Safety and Homeland Security will use funds to match criminal history records in the state's criminal history repository against the G4 file, the file that contains the records that have been validated by Health and Social Services as true commitments of persons prohibited from purchasing or owning a firearm due to a mental health reason. Delaware is also proposing to review the G4 mental health records and determine if a person has an existing State Bureau of Identification (SBI) Number. If a person has an existing SBI number, the number will be appended to the G4 database for law enforcement use. Additionally, some G4 records were created when an individual had a different name. By linking systems together, the Delaware Justice Information System (DELJIS) will create a routine to add an alias name to a record thus providing law enforcement with the best choices and variation of names to use during criminal history searches. Finally, DELJIS staff will perform matches between the court's involuntary commitment file and the Delaware Health and Social Services file. Updated information will be added to the state's database and the NICS Index.

Florida ($1,952,919) The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) will use funds to implement a Technical Enhancement of the Firearm Eligibility System (FES), continue the E-Warrant Arrest project, improve access to Clerk of Court Historic Documents project and implementing the Electronic Protection Order project. FDLE will conduct several enhancements to the FES to improve usability including: development of a delayed transaction queue, improvement of the quality verification queue, restructuring the way user roles and privileges are created and assigned to provide needed flexibility and granularity, development of a tiered transaction structure, and screen modifications to improve usability. FDLE will also, in conjunction with the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) and the state warrants task force, to create a conceptual business process model (BPM), a NIEM conformant Information Exchange Packet Documentation (IEPD), and a full functioning eWarrants prototype website and database. This is a system that agencies can interact via a web site with the centralized eWarrants tracking system, providing information and tracking the progress of a warrant as it moves through the approval process. FDLE, with SEARCH and the NCSC, decided to pursue the Global Reference Architecture (GRA) conformant Open Justice Broker (OJB) to enable future sharing with other state agencies in the OJB Consortium. FDLE will provide resources to clerks of court to research and scan missing critical court documents to clerk websites. These websites provide critical court documents to local staff, FDLE, and members of the public. FDLE routinely accesses these websites and search databases for the purpose of updating criminal history records in response to background checks for firearm purchases and concealed weapon permits. The ability to electronically search and access more source documentation will allow users of this documentation faster access to information needed for critical decision-making. This program will not only reduce background check wait times (with missing dispositions) but also improve the overall accuracy and completeness of FDLE's criminal history repository. FDLE will also expand to the current eWarrants application to integrate electronic Protection Orders. This will address the issue of inconsistency among Florida's 67 counties and their readiness to enter all information shared within their county. FDLE, in conjunction with Florida's law enforcement community, must ensure that the entry of protection orders into the FCIC/NCIC is complete, current and accurate to guarantee both officer and public safety, this includes assuring individuals with active protection orders that do not meet the criteria to purchase a firearm are denied in accordance with NICS.

Hawaii ($401,249) The Hawaii Department of the Attorney General will establish a program manager position to develop a NICS Record Improvement Program Plan for the state of Hawaii, create a task force of partners, implement the Plan, and monitor the Plan's progress. Funds will also be used for Hawaii to participate in the Identification for Firearms Sales (IFFS) program by flagging felony convictions to III; identify Misdemeanor Crimes of Domestic Violence convictions to include more accurate identification of the victim and the initiating/final charges; and assist Hawaii's Department of Health by partnering in modernizing the ability of their Adult Mental Health system to share more electronic/real time responses with the police agencies making the firearm purchase determinations.

Idaho ($203,400) The Idaho State Police (ISP) will carry out its mission of continuous improvement to meet the needs of the criminal justice and non-criminal justice entities. Through its strategic information sharing initiatives the state continues to move towards its information sharing goals. The ISP has identified two gaps in their network of information sharing: 1) if an individual has not been fingerprinted when initially charged and the person was immediately put on supervision after conviction, with no time in custody, this information is not currently available to NICS, even if it was a disqualifying charge; and, 2) there are many missing dispositions in the state criminal history file maintained by the ISP's Bureau of Criminal Identification (BCI). Ultimately, the project will provide supervised release information on all NICS background checks for those who are under the supervision of the Idaho Department of Corrections. Additionally, more accurate and complete criminal history records will be available upon query for a NICS background check by increasing the number of records with disposition in the state criminal history system.

Indiana ($1,491,240) The Indiana Criminal Justice Institute will use funds to: 1) continue the deployment of Odyssey, Indiana's court case management system, to additional criminal courts throughout the state; and, 2) implement interfaces between the Prosecutor's case management system (INPCMS) and Odyssey, as well as Odyssey and the state criminal history repository (CHRIS). The Trial Court Technology (TCT) Group, formerly known as the Judicial Technology and Automation Committee (JTAC), of the Indiana Supreme Court's Division of State Court Administration will lead the deployment of Odyssey to additional criminal courts. TCT will work with users to ensure that the Odyssey to INcite's Mental Health Adjudication Reporting application is working successfully. This will eliminate duplicate data entry for court staff and will ensure that the information is sent to NICS in a timely manner. TCT will continue to compare mental health commitments from courts with the information courts are reporting through INcite to NICS. In addition, TCT will reach out to the Department of Corrections (DOC) to compare and upload individuals currently held at DOC who have a qualifying court determination in a criminal case. All of these activities will improve the accuracy and completeness of records in the exchange of criminal case information. Funds will also be used to cover the staff responsible for coordinating and administering projects under this award.

Louisiana ($1,950,000) The Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement (LCLE) will transfer funds to the Louisiana Supreme Court (Case Management Information System Division - CMIS) and the Louisiana District Attorney's Association to improve the data quality of criminal history records and the reporting of mental health records by increasing the number of courts reporting felony convictions and mental health records to NICS, and providing a standardized charge code file for use statewide by district attorneys. The CMIS will use funds to implement three modern case management systems in the courts to automate manual disposition reporting tasks performed by the minute clerks and the implementation of a data exchange with the District Attorney (DA) to provide defendant and arrest information at the time of filing the bill of indictment. This will allow a court to capture the critical data elements such as defendant demographic information and arrest information so that when the disposition is reported to CMIS, the record can be provided to NICS and the CCH. CMIS will also use funds to upgrade the Charge Code system so it can capture the period of prescription for each revised statute criminal offense and upgrade the existing court case management systems at the District Court to support the new charge code system. The records will be posted to NICS with an expiration date which corresponds with the period of prescription for the offense. In addition, LCLE will support a Criminal Justice Policy Planner to assist in coordinating and administering the activities of Louisiana's NICS Program.

Maryland ($2,496,514) The Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS) will use funds for two projects: 1) Phase II of the Ident/Index & Arrest Disposition Reporting Systems (CCH) Replacement project, and 2) the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) Automated Data Reporting System. Under the CCH Replacement project, DPSCS will replace two legacy data systems, including the Ident/Index and Arrest Disposition Reporting (ADR) mainframe systems with more up-to-date technologies such as .NET Framework and contemporary relational databases. The Ident/Index System provides a Master Index of State Identification Numbers (SIDs), as well as demographic and biometric information on persons with a SID. While this system captures and provides essential information that is used for public safety, it was implemented in 1975 and is no longer capable to meet the needs of the state. The Arrest Disposition Reporting (ADR) mainframe system provides Criminal History Record Information (CHRI) services to authorized criminal justice agencies throughout Maryland. ADR is the designated electronic criminal history repository for the state. Court case data, bail and bond determinations, charges, dispositions, and sentences are all received from the Judicial Information Systems (JIS) and added to ADR's Court Data Base by batch processes. Supervision data contributed by DOC, Parole and Probation, and local detention centers across the state are also added to the Court database through batch and online processes. Under the DHMH Automated Data Reporting System project, DPSCS will use funds to continue support of the transmission of mental health information to NICS for persons prohibited from possessing firearms. DHMH previously developed a database to automatically and securely report mental health data to NICS. This database, Hospital Management Information System (HMIS), has been used to collect information on individuals who have been committed to a state mental institution for a period of more than thirty days. This database now includes records from private hospitals, as well as individuals who have been committed by the State Office of Administrative Hearings. As a result, all information maintained in DHMH's database is transmitted to NICS. While HMIS maintains and transmits all available information to NICS, DPSCS will maintain, enhance, and ensure improved reliability of the infrastructure needed to securely transmit pertinent information to NICS.

Missouri ($1,160,260) The Missouri State Highway Patrol (MSHP), Office of the State Court Administrator (OSCA), and the Missouri Office of Prosecution Services (MOPS) will collaborate on four projects to increase the timeliness and completeness of Missouri's NICS related records. The first project involves OSCA's conversion of the Justice Information System (JIS) from Oracle to Java. Missouri courts currently use the JIS case management system to initiate and dispose of criminal and probate cases. This information is important in the reporting of information to the NICS Index. JIS is currently running on old technologies and in order to keep it running for the next several years a new case management system is being developed and converted from Oracle to Java. Prior NARIP funding has started the conversion of JIS from Oracle to Java, but additional funding is needed to complete the conversion. The primary piece of the conversion requiring completion is the mental health reporting component. The second project includes MOPS hiring a Technology Automation Resource Prosecutor (TARP) to work collectively with OSCA and MSHP to coordinate and improve statewide prosecutor automation process. The TARP will oversee the installation and maintenance of the automated Case Management System in prosecutors' offices, and serve as a resource and trainer for prosecutors and staff relating to technology and automation. The overall process will enhance the accuracy and completeness of the data transfer relating to criminal history reporting from prosecuting attorney's offices throughout OSCA and the central repository. The third project involves MOPS to build an in-house Missouri specific case management system to allow for greater flexibility, control and efficiency. MOPS will hire two contactors to develop an in-house case management system. The last project is for the purchase and installment of 17 Livescan devices throughout the state. MSHP worked with the MO Police Chief's Association and MO Sheriff's Association to determine the location of each Livescan device. Jurisdictions are prioritized based on the estimated number of arrest fingerprints that would be collected, the number of agencies able to use the device at the selected location, and the ability of each agency to maintain the device after installment.

Nebraska ($785,449) The Nebraska State Patrol (NSP) will use funds to provide training to court clerks on identification and proper entry of NICS-related mental health disqualifying cases; continue efforts to rewrite the Patrol Criminal History (PCH) for felony convictions; and the development of upgrades to the Protection Order Portal. For the first project, NSP will work with the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to upgrade software to improve functionality such as error checking on fields to match the Federal database, a need to remove obsolete queues, and to revise notifications for missing keywords. The county clerks are communicating with DHHS that a need for training exists regarding entering data into the Electronic Commitment Reporting Application. Key training topics include entering and maintaining a user account on the Enterprise Portal; entering a new commitment (getting the information necessary to report the individual to NICS); and discharging a person from commitment and granting relief of disability and reporting to NICS. The second project includes NSP continuing the PCH rewrite project that has been partially funded under previous awards. As a result of the rapid technological advancements, deficiencies occur in the functional ability and user-friendliness of the PCH. As such, the PCH needs to be maintained and updated to ensure the most complete, accurate, and timely records are available. For the third project, NSP will develop a feature that notifies the petitioner of a protection order that the respondent has been served and allow for appropriate personal safety concerns to be addressed. The period of time immediately following a protection order being served is characterized by increased danger to the petitioner. As such, NSP will address a need that improves the relevance of criminal history system while actively protecting the public.

Nevada ($274,466) The Nevada Department of Public Safety (NDPS) will use funds to hire 10 temporary employees to enter disposition data into the State and FBI criminal history systems. This award supports the efforts of the 2013 and 2014 NARIP awards to backfill missing dispositions. This project is the result of several high profile cases of individuals within Nevada who had mental health adjudications or other prohibiting convictions that were not included on the individual's criminal history record. In response, the Chief Justice of Nevada required a statewide audit to be conducted by each court to determine that all missing dispositions and individuals who had mental health adjudications on their records to be input in the statewide system for ultimate submission to the national level. Upon completion of the audit, the state identified over 800,000 dispositions that were missing from the state repository. With the hiring of these additional temporary employees, the state estimates it will take approximately 3 years to enter and make available the large volume of missing dispositions.

New Jersey ($1,179,000) The New Jersey Judiciary remains committed to improving the records available to the NICS. Through the continued collaboration of New Jersey's NICS Task Force, it has been recognized that legal name change actions must be incorporated into New Jersey's efforts to make accessible to NICS complete records on persons prohibited from possessing firearms for mental health reasons. Funds will be used to enable the Judiciary to automate the handling of legal name change actions filed in the Law Division  Civil Part of the Superior Court to allow for the recording of name changes that affect civil commitment records and timely transmission of such data through New Jersey State Police for accessibility to NICS.

New York ($2,936,045) The New York State NICS Record Improvement Task Force is focusing on four projects to improve the scope and accuracy of state records relating to involuntary mental health commitments and criminal history records in general. The first project is to continue the Task Force's ability to strategize, prioritize and govern NICS initiatives with the goal of facilitating development of short-term and long-term improvement plans. This includes assessing the completeness and availability of NICS records; identifying reasons for incomplete and/or unavailable NICS records; and continuing to refine and implement NY's NICS Record Improvement Plan. The second project will have the Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) and the Office of the Court Administrator (OCA) continue the work on analysis and remediation of disposition errors for courts outside of New York City (NYC was an area of focus under previous awards). In addition, the tasks will address newly-identified enhancements that will further support the remediation of un-docketed and missing arrests. The project includes to implement the identified mechanism to prevent and remediate open arrests, missing arrests, and unmatched dispositions in the NY Criminal History Repository. For the third project, OCA will improve mental health record submission to NICS through increased frequency of civil guardianship record transmission. OCA sends Civil Guardianship records to the NICS Index once a day via a batch transmission. OCA will implement frequent, near real-time transmission of Civil Guardianship records during the course of the day. The final project will require the Department of Health (DOH), the Office of Mental Health (OMH) and OCA to enhance the quality of mental health records and Orders of Protection submissions to NICS. OMH will enhance their NICS System to allow the agency to submit updates for pre-existing NICS submissions to correct errors and duplicate entries. A developer will enhance the data quality of the NICS records by providing analysis and written documentation describing NICS database logic and data flow. Also, the developer will review the database for quality and coding logic opportunities and code the changes to prevent null data or duplicate information to be submitted to the NICS database. OCA will add the ability to collect social security numbers (SSNs) in the statewide criminal case management system and will incorporate all necessary data protection measures, including data encryption and data masking. This will enhance the Orders of Protection submissions to the NICS Index to include the SSN in the existing data fields.

North Dakota ($280,995) The North Dakota (ND) Office of Attorney's General Division of the Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) will collaborate with the North Dakota Supreme Courts (Courts) and North Dakota Criminal Justice Information Sharing (CJIS) to address felony convictions and convictions for misdemeanors involving domestic violence and stalking. ND State's attorneys are obligated to provide disposition information to BCI. BCI is responsible for sharing the data provided by the state's attorneys with the FBI. The disposition data reported to BCI by the state's attorneys is often delayed or inaccurate. Data entry of the dispositional records is currently a manual process that takes a significant amount of time and effort. Most cases are processed for reporting to BCI by state's attorneys using North Dakota's State's Attorney Records System (STARS). There is already a process in place to send data from STARS to BCI. Additionally, there is a process in place for BCI to transmit dispositions to the FBI. An automated process for STARS to receive disposition information from the Courts would enable state's attorneys to process and send data to BCI much more quickly, accurately and completely.

Oregon ($367,104) The Oregon State Police (OSP) will continue to improve the availability of complete records to the NICS through two projects: NICS Record Reconciliation Team, and Firearms Instant Check System (FICS) Record Research Backlog. The goal of the Reconciliation Team is to ensure that all target records are made available to NICS either through the NCIC, III, or the NICS Index in the most-timely manner possible. Largely this involves very old records that for one reason or another were not reported to the repository. The Reconciliation Team research, review and update missing and incomplete records. While doing so the team also continues to look for improvements that can be made to further enhance automated record exchanges with contributing agencies. In order to seek larger-scale and long-term progress, the team also works directly in the field with agencies to build on improvement projects that have been initiated during previous NARIP awards. The emphasis to date has been with the largest county demographic areas as the priority for the greatest volume. As part of the project, a more focused outline and plan for contacting all remaining agencies, as well as a survey for baseline information gathering have been created. The OSP will also use funds to eliminate the backlog of firearm transfer requests that have been pended due to missing or incomplete records. Oregon records continue to improve through the ongoing work noted in the Reconciliation Team project and the state has seen an overall decreasing trend of the number of pended transactions. However, there continues to be an ongoing problem with obtaining records from other states that cause a delay or "pended" firearm background request. Currently, there is a backlog of approximately 1,300 pended transactions awaiting reconciliation at varying levels for active firearm purchases. The goal of this project continues to be the reduction of the backlog in order to enable the FICS unit to reach a normal ongoing "pended transaction" workload of 200-300 or less transactions awaiting closure.

South Carolina ($916,991) The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) will use funds to achieve two projects: NICS Reporting Unit Enhancement and the Automation of older NICS/CWP (Concealed Weapons Permit) Paper Files into the Electronic Document Management System (EDMS). Due to the enactment of the Mental Health Adjudication and Commitment Reporting law (Section 23-31-1010, S.C. Code), SLED assumed statutory responsibility for entering mental health adjudication records into the NICS Index. Further, state courts are statutorily required to submit mental health adjudication court orders to SLED within five days of the order being made, and historical records for the previous 10 years, or as far back as records are maintained. Prior to assuming these responsibilities, SLED worked collaboratively with the South Carolina Judicial Department, the South Carolina Department of Mental Health, and the Probate Court Association to develop estimates of how many records existed and would require entry each year. Under the NICS Reporting Unit project, SLED will continue to build on past efforts to develop a unit specifically to review, research, verify, enter, and update the information received from the courts into NICS. In addition, the unit staff will query the concealed weapon permit database and armed security officer database for potential prohibited permit/registration holders for revocation and assist with the file automation preparation process. Under the Automation of older NICS/CWP Paper Files into EDMS project, SLED anticipates complete implementation of the NICS EDMS in June 2015, which will allow a single point-of-entry for NICS related mental health court orders and electronically store all documentation received by state courts. Further, firewall hardware has been updated to meet the need to securely transfer critical information from the state courts to SLED. Also funded through the 2013 BJA Improving the Completeness of Firearm Background Checks through Enhanced State Data Sharing grant a project was initiated to automate and digitally store pre-existing CWP records into the EDMS. Existing CWP records were compared to orders received by state courts regarding entry into the NICS Index. SLED began the automation process under the 2013 award however, only a portion of the total existing files were able to be scanned; additional funds are requested to continue the automation process.

Tennessee ($1,378,097) The Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration (TDFA) will transfer funds to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI), the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC), and the District Attorneys General Conference (DAGC) to aid in the state's efforts to improve criminal history records. The TBI intends to completely rewrite the state's CCH application with an industry standard development code that will allow the TBI to take advantage of all the current technology enhancements that other law enforcement agencies are using. As a result of these enhancements, additional criminal records will be obtained and improved. AOC's project activities will include the creation of an automated monitoring system for verifying the timely reporting of records to the NICS Index by court clerks. Funds will also be used hire a contractor to perform periodic audits and quality control checks on the records being submitted to the NICS Index. The DAGC will receive funds to help operate Tennessee's Relief Program by hiring a clerical worker to review petitions and investigate petitioners' history of mental health. Project management and administrative fees, as well as travel for three staff to attend the National Association for Justice Information Systems Conference, are also covered under this award.

Utah ($800,000) The Utah Governor's Office will transfer funds to the Department of Public Safety for its Utah Criminal Justice Information System (UCJIS) Web Front Rewrite project, and to the Utah Prosecution Council and Statewide Association of Prosecutors for its Prosecution Case Management System project. The UCJIS web front is used extensively by the Bureau of Criminal Identification (BCI) for criminal history and gun check processing. Additionally, BCI uses the web front extensively to query other systems (including the III) in order to research information so that the Utah Criminal History database can be updated with the most current information. Without the UCJIS web front, BCI would no longer be able to research disposition records for the Criminal History repository, access III, add, modify or cancel records in the NICS Index, do background checks on gun purchasers outside the normal gun check application or do background checks on concealed firearm permit holders. The infrastructure and technology of the UCJIS web front is over 10 years old. Funds are will be used to upgrade and enhance the UCJIS web front with the latest coding requirements, software, browsing technologies and security protocols to meet the expanding needs of the criminal justice agencies. The Utah Prosecution Council and Statewide Association of Prosecutors will use funds to purchase a third-party vendor case management software program for county and municipal prosecutor offices. This program will allow prosecutor offices to electronically share information and documents with each other, but will also provide for direct, cost saving communication with the district courts.

Virginia ($149,222) The Virginia State Police (VSP) will conduct two projects: 1) research, enter, verify and archive mental health orders received from the courts; and 2) hire a JAVA developer to enhance the replacement JAVA Criminal History Records (JCCH) system that exists in the current legacy CCH system. For the first project, the VSP's current business practice is to enter the mental health order into the Mental Health System immediately upon receipt; however, due to current workload in other areas of the Criminal Justice Information Services Division (CJIS), often the archiving of documents is delayed. If a mental health order is received with incomplete data, CJIS Division personnel must contact the court for further clarification and in some cases, conduct research to obtain the necessary information. This process is time-consuming and stresses the available CJIS resources to perform the research and ensure accuracy of the mental health records. The VSP will hire two part time employees to assist with entering, validating and archiving mental health records. The part time positions will expedite the verifying of information on the mental health order and archiving the documents. For the second project, the VSP will use funds to enhance the JCCH. The current system is 30 years old and is at risk for failure due to the age of the system. The VSP Information Technology (IT) Division has been given a budget to build the new system, but development of the replacement system has been delayed, creating a budget shortfall. The original concept was for the replacement system to mirror the current system, but with enhancements. Approximately 90 features that exist in today's system will be deferred in the replacement system until additional funding becomes available. Most of these 90 features are mission critical and the absence of these features will have an adverse effect on the criminal history record files. The current legacy system performs many functions in an automated workflow. The replacement system is designed to accommodate this same automated workflow; however, fully implementing its potential will be deferred until additional funding is available. The VSP will hire an IT Specialist III, who will assist in programming the 90 deferred critical functions in the replacement JCCH system. In addition, this funded position will implement and develop enhancements that have been identified by the CJIS Division. Further, this position will reduce the time the CJIS Division must operate without some of its automated processes, reports and essential functions.

West Virginia ($1,750,151) The West Virginia Supreme Court Administrative Office will use funds to continue to improve the backlog of court dispositions and the reporting of individuals with mental health adjudications on their records. These projects represent a continuation of efforts from the 2014 award. The disposition backlog project and the WV Offender Case Management System (WVOCMS) projects, play a vital role in the ability of the court to maintain and improve the quality, completeness and availability of records at the state and national levels. While the Courts have made significant progress in addressing the backlog of dispositions in the Criminal Record Repository, there still remains several years backlog on disposition reporting. The backlog is directly related to staffing and resources available to process the incoming disposition forms being submitted by court clerks throughout the state. The second gap, reporting of indictments to complete the criminal history file, was identified in the Court's 2014 NCHIP proposal. To build upon the efforts, the Courts are proposing to continue to fund the staff and efforts under this project. The WVOCMS is the system that collects all demographic information, family and criminal history, assessment information, fees information, incarceration information, drug testing and other identifying information. The system has the capability to house scanned copies of the pre-sentence report, court orders and indictments and record missing dispositions for the pre-sentence and LS/CMI reports. The WVOCMS is the most accurate electronic system to pull indictment and submit case file data with a disposition and a required prohibitor to the state repository for inclusion in the criminal history file.

Wisconsin ($90,396) The Wisconsin Department of Justice (WDOJ) will use funds to develop a process and interface designed to automatically validate the mental health data that WDOJ receives from the Wisconsin Circuit Court Automation Program (CCAP) and provides to NICS. The WDOJ and CCAP recently implemented an electronic transfer of mental health data that is maintained within the DOJ Prohibited Person File with access restricted in accordance with Wisconsin statutes. The WDOJ is authorized to transfer this data to the NICS Index. NICS polices require periodic validation of records to ensure accuracy. To minimize manual resources within the WDOJ and CCAP, and to improve the timeliness of updates, an automated validation of mental health data will be implemented to comply with CJIS requirements and ensure mental health data maintained at the state and federal level is current and accurate. WDOJ will automate the actual validation process of comparing data already maintained within the WDOJ database with the new information received from CCAP to ensure it is current and accurate.

Past Summaries:

2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009

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NARIP Contact Addresses

Alabama
Srinivas Javangula
IT Program and Project Manager
Alabama Law Enforcement Agency
301 South Ripley Street
P.O. Box 304115
Montgomery, Alabama 36104
(334) 517-2572
E-mail: srinivas.javangula@alea.gov

Arizona
Mark Peoples
Program Manager
Arizona Criminal Justice Commission
1110 West Washington, Suite 230
Phoenix, Arizona 85007
(602) 364-1152
E-mail: mpeoples@azcjc.gov

Connecticut
John Forbes
Assistant Division Director
Connecticut Office of Policy and Management
450 Capitol Avenue
Hartford, CT 06109-1379
(860) 418-6271
E-mail:John.Forbes@ct.gov

Delaware
Capt. Ralph Davis, Director
Attn: Renee Rigby, Assistant Director
State Bureau of Identification, Delaware State Police
P.O. Box 430 (1407 North Dupont Highway)
Dover, Delaware 19903
(302) 672-5300
E-mail: ralph.davis@state.de.us / renee.rigby@state.de.us

Florida
Petrina T. Herring
Administrator
Florida Department of Law Enforcement
2331 Phillips Road
Tallahassee, Florida 32308
(850) 617-1250
E-mail: petrinaherring@fdle.state.fl.us

Hawaii
Liane Moriyama
Administrator
Attn: John Maruyama, Information Systems Chief
Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center
Department of the Attorney General
Kekuanao'a Building
465 South King Street, Room 102
Honolulu, Hawaii 96813
(808) 587-3110
E-mail: lmoriyam@hcjdc.hawaii.gov / jmaruyam@hcjdc.hawaii.gov

Idaho
Dawn A. Peck, Manager
Bureau of Criminal Identification
Idaho State Police
700 S. Stratford Dr., Ste. 120
Meridian, ID 83642
(208) 884-7136
E-mail: dawn.peck@isp.idaho.gov

Illinois
Kevin N. Givens
Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority
300 W. Adams Street, Suite 200
Chicago, Illinois 60606
(312) 793-1300
E-mail: kevin.givens@illinois.gov

Indiana
David Murtaugh
Executive Director
Attn: Andrew Rodeghero, Drug & Crime Control Division Director
Indiana Criminal Justice Institute
101 W. Washington Street, Suite 1170 East
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204-2038
(317) 232-1233
E-mail: dmurtaugh@cji.in.gov / arodeghero1@cji.in.gov

Kentucky
Diane Marcus, Branch Manager
Kentucky Justice & Public Safety Cabinet
125 Holmes Street
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
(502) 564-8261
E-mail: diane.marcus@ky.gov

Louisiana
Linda Gautier
Policy Planner
LA Commission on Law Enforcement
& Administration of Criminal Justice
P.O. Box 3133 (602 N 5th St., Baton Rouge, LA 70802)
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70821-3133
(225) 342-1703
E-mail:  linda.gautier@lcle.la.gov

Maryland
Alexandra Suhoy
Program Manager
Governor's Office of Crime Control & Prevention
300 E. Joppa Road, Suite 1105
Baltimore, MD  21286-3016
(410) 585-3163
E-mail: alsuhoy@dpscs.state.md.us

Missouri
Captain Larry W. Plunkett
Attn: Sandy Walters, Federal Grants Accountant
Criminal Justice Information Services Division
Missouri State Highway Patrol
1510 E. Elm St. (P.O. Box 568)
Jefferson City, Missouri 65102-0568
(573) 526-6328
E-mail: larry.plunkett@mshp.dps.mo.gov / sandy.walters@mshp.dps.mo.gov

Nebraska
Serena Reeves, NCHIP/Grants Supervisor
Nebraska State Patrol
Grants Division
P.O. Box 94907 (1600 Nebraska Highway 2, 68502)
Lincoln, Nebraska 68509-4907 
Phone: 402-479-4037
E-mail: serena.reeves@nebraska.gov

Nevada
Michael Lambrecht
Nevada Department of Public Safety
Office of Criminal Justice Assistance
555 Wright Way
Carson City, Nevada 89711
(775) 687-4170
E-mail: mlambrecht@dps.state.nv.us

New Jersey
Opal Plummer
Court Executive
RJ Hughes Justice Complex
25 Market St
Trenton, NJ 08625
(609) 633-7515
E-mail: opal.plummer@judiciary.state.nj.us

New York
Joseph N. Morrissey
Director, Office of Criminal Justice Operations
Division of Criminal Justice Services
80 South Swan Street - 6th Floor
Albany, New York 12210 
(518)  485-2995
E-mail: joe.morrissey@dcjs.ny.gov

North Dakota
Tonya Forderer, Grants-Contracts Officer
North Dakota Office of the Attorney General
Bureau of Criminal Investigation
P.O. Box 1054 (4205 State Street, 58502)
Bismarck, North Dakota 58502 (zip code for FedEx or UPS deliveries is 58503)
(701) 328-5535
E-mail: tforderer@nd.gov

Oregon
Tricia Whitfield
Director
Oregon State Police, Criminal Justice Information Services Division
225 Capitol Street NE, 4th Floor
Salem, Oregon 97310
(503) 934-2305 
E-mail: patricia.whitfield@state.or.us

Tennessee
Bill Scollon
Director
Attn: Tom Pitt, Program Manager
Office of Criminal Justice Programs
Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration
312 Rosa L. Parks Avenue, Suite 1800
Nashville, Tennessee 37243-1102
(615) 741-9954
E-mail: bill.scollon@tn.gov / tom.pitt@tn.gov

Texas
Scott Griffith, Director
Attn: Amanda Stites, Research Specialist
Research and Court Services
Texas Office of Court Administration
205 W. 14th St. Suite 600
Austin, TX 78701-1614
(512) 463-1629  
E-mail: scott.griffith@txcourts.gov

VACANT
Crime Records Service  MSC0230
Texas Department of Public Safety
(512) 424-2968
E-mail: N/A

Utah
Clair Webster
Business Analyst Supervisor
Utah Commission on Criminal & Juvenile Justice
Utah State Capitol Complex - Senate Building, Suite E330
Salt Lake City, Utah 84114-2330
(801) 538-1047
E-mail: clairwebster@utah.gov

Virginia
Cynthia A. Vernacchia, Director
Virginia State Police
7700 Midlothian Turnpike
North Chesterfield, Virginia 23235-5266
(804) 674-2239
E-mail: cynthia.vernacchia@vsp.virginia.gov  

Wisconsin
Matt Raymer, Criminal Justice Program Analyst
Wisconsin Department of Justice
17 W. Main St.
Madison, WI 53703
(608) 261-4374
E-mail: raymermc@doj.state.wi.us

West Virginia
Thomas Hanson
Grants Program Manager, Division of Court Services
WV Supreme Court of Appeals
1900 Kanawha Boulevard, East
Building 1, Room E100
Charleston, WV  25305
(304) 340-2948
E-mail: Thomas.Hanson@courtswv.gov

Publications & Products

National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) Press release on awarded amounts to eight state agencies to improve the quality, completeness, and accessibility of records available under the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).
	Press Release | State-by-State Summaries for FY2010

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