FY 2022 Utah Criminal History Improvement Program

The Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice will use funds for the following projects.  Project 1: Research and update missing dispositions, train local criminal justice personnel, and maintain and update the Utah Criminal History (UCH).  The Utah Department of Public Safety (DPS) will work with the Administrative Office of The Courts (AOC) to increase the success rate of disposition matching.  Currently there are still many records in suspense and UCH that need to be researched.  Project 2: Train local criminal justice personnel on quality, complete, and accurate data for submission to the Utah Criminal History (UCH).  DPS is the State of Utah’s largest law enforcement agency.  They provide professional law enforcement training, innovative technology, and research to meet the needs of Utah’s law enforcement community and the citizens they serve.  DPS delivers professional continuing education and training to peace officers and dispatchers in a learning environment which is conducive with the expectations of Utah citizens for its law enforcement officers.  Utah’s Criminal History Database (UCH) is accessed daily by law enforcement agencies throughout the country. Data accuracy is key to ensuring public safety. Project 3: Research and update missing arrest and disposition records on UCH, update legacy (binary) AFIS records within the WIN system to NIST and eliminate the pseudo-pointer records in the FBI NGI file for Utah.  Utah became an A-NFF state on April 13, 2022.  There is still a need to update Utah arrest, disposition, and fingerprint records within the systems maintained by Utah.  In addition, pseudo-pointer records in the FBI NGI system must be updated to be under the control of the state rather than the FBI.  Project 4: Hire two new employees to assist with the manual process related to court orders for Clean Slate expungements.  The Utah Expungement Act was modified by the legislature in 2019 to include Clean Slate eligible cases. Expunging Clean Slate cases became operational in 2022. Code for America and the AOC have identified approximately 200,000 eligible cases.  Currently, the DPS process for expunging Clean Slate orders involves a high amount of manual work. Project 5: Purchase two LiveScan devices for use by Utah Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) and the Utah Highway Patrol (UHP) or another law enforcement agency. Project 6: Purchase 20 portable fingerprint devices to assist in development as well as field training agencies and begin programming to develop a submission process for “Field Book and Release.” This would utilize portable fingerprint capture devices and existing submission services. Once field testing devices are completed, the agency would assume possession of the device and take over any service contracts for the device. Project 7: Allow attendance to conferences and trainings that include the impact and improvement of criminal histories, dispositions, research, etc.  The Bureau of Criminal Identification is constantly trying to find ways to improve the accuracy and information that is contained in its criminal history file.  At times the bureau is unaware of new technology, training, or information that would help with the improvement of the criminal history.