Odyssey Implementation to Criminal Courts and Aries Web Portal Improvements Project

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).

Under this award, the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute plans to transfer funds to the Indiana State Police (ISP) to: 1) continue the deployment of Odyssey, Indiana's court case management system, to criminal courts in Johnson, Fayette, and Fountain counties; 2) implement interfaces between INPCMS- the Prosecutor's case management system and Odyssey, as well as Odyssey and CHRIS-the State criminal history repository, to improve the accuracy and completeness in the exchange of criminal case information; 3) create an interface between CHRIS and Indiana's Mental Health Database; and 4) enhance ARIES, the law enforcement web portal, to assist state and local agencies in auditing, tracking, and finding missing arrest data to send back to CHRIS. Funds will also be used to cover the staff responsible for coordinating and administering projects under this grant. (CA/NCF)