Award Information
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2014, $770,000)
The NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007, Pub. L. 110-180 ("NICS Improvement Act"), was signed into law by the President on January 8, 2008. The NICS Improvement Act amends the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993 ("the Brady Act") (Pub. L. 103-159), under which the Attorney General established the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). The Brady Act requires Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs) to contact the NICS before transferring a firearm to an unlicensed person for information on whether the proposed transferee is prohibited from receiving or possessing a firearm under state or federal law. The NICS Improvement Act authorizes grants to be made in a manner consistent with the National Criminal History Improvement Program (NCHIP).
As the agency responsible for maintaining Alabama's criminal history repository and computerized criminal history systems, the Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center (ACJIC) will use these awarded funds to: 1) establish a NICS Record Improvement Task Force of state and local agencies to assist in the development of a NICS Record Improvement Plan; 2) improve the state's CCH to provide the FBI, state, local, and federal law enforcement agencies, and other criminal justice agencies with accurate and up-to-date information directly related to NICS checks, and continue procedures for developing an electronic connection to allow Municipal Court case management systems to submit dispositions that qualify for crimes of domestic violence to Alabama's statewide municipal court repository; and, 3) complete the development of a system that will provide an automated mechanism for Probate Courts to forward orders involving the involuntary commitment of persons for inpatient mental health treatment to ACJIC.
The mental health and domestic violence projects will be completed with ACJIC 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. UA-CAPS is a research and development center within the University of Alabama, which is a state agency that has partnered with ACJIC for many years in the development of criminal justice information sharing tools in Alabama. ACJIC and UA-CAPS have entered into an agreement for the development of software applications systems and support related to these projects. (CA/NCF)