FY 2007 Tribal Criminal History Record Improvement Project

The 2007 Tribal Criminal History Record Improvement Program (T-CHRIP) aims to improve public safety among tribes in Michigan by automating the capture and reporting of fingerprints and arrest records and facilitating implementation of criminal justice and non-criminal justice background check systems. The Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians is one of twelve (12) federally recognized Indian Tribes in the State of Michigan. The funds will be awarded to the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians (LTBB) to implement and facilitate the development of an integrated justice information system among the tribal nations in Michigan. The LTBB has served as a leader in automating tribal fingerprint records in Michigan. This award serves as a follow-on to their 2006 award which supported planning the integrated system and training for tribal participants.

Each of the ten tribes with an operational justice system has their own criminal records system. These systems are not linked together and vary as to connectivity to other systems such as the State of Michigan and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. These ten tribes (including LTBB) and the one tribe with a developing justice agency are geographically dispersed throughout the State. Five tribes are located across Michigan's Upper Peninsula and seven tribes throughout the rest of the state.

Most of the tribes in Michigan with law enforcement departments have not been able to access automated fingerprint systems and must rely on other means and accessing other agencies to submit fingerprints for background checks. Seven of the tribes desire Livescan equipment to meet the new State requirement for paperless and automated fingerprint submissions but lack the resources and technical assistance to acquire the equipment. LTBB will serve as the facilitator to purchase the necessary Livescan equipment, arrange for installation, and operational training. The seven Livescan systems will connect to the Michigan State Police Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS).

This project is designed to focus on the needs of tribes in Michigan to acquire and operate livescan fingerprint systems within each tribal justice system and share criminal history records among the tribes in Michigan. An emphasis will be placed on establishing the infrastructure to support full participation in the FBI's Interstate Identification Index (III) for seven tribes in Michigan through the following objectives:

Objective 1: By the end of the Project period, at least seven Michigan tribes will increase the effectiveness of their background check systems, expand background checks to include interstate systems, and decrease the time it takes to complete a background check for:

a) Bay Mills Indian Community;
b) Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians;
c) Keweenaw Bay Indian Community;
d) Pokagon Band of Patawatomi Indians;
e) Saginawa Chippewa Indian Tribe;
f) Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of CHippewa Indians; and
g) Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pattawatomi Indians

Objective 2: The tribes in Michigan will increase understanding of the importance of criminal history record sharing among tribes. This will be an on-going process throughout the project period.

Objective 3: By the end of the project period, it is anticipated that at least seven tribes in Michigan will have automated interfaces with State AFIS systems and/or the Federal Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System, seven tribes will have successfully installed Livescan systems and at least two people per tribe will be trained on Livescan equipment.
CA/NCF