Award Information
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2015, $1,686,348)
The goal of the National Criminal History Improvement Program (NCHIP) is to improve the Nation's safety and security by enhancing the quality, completeness, and accessibility of criminal history record information and by insuring the nationwide implementation of criminal justice and noncriminal justice background check systems. BJS provides direct financial and technical assistance to the states to improve criminal history and other related records and to build their infrastructure to connect to national record check systems both to supply information and to conduct the requisite checks.
Under the 2015 NCHIP priority area 1, updating and automating case outcomes in state records and the FBI's Criminal History File, the Wisconsin Department of Justice (WIDOJ) will upgrade the state's Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS). Wisconsin's computerized criminal history database contains detailed information of arrests, arrest charges, prosecutions, court findings and sentences, and state correctional system admissions and releases that are required to be submitted to the WIDOJ. All information in the database is linked to specific fingerprint records submitted by arresting law enforcement agencies and stored in the state's AFIS. Wisconsin received 185,028 fingerprint submissions in 2014 consisting of 25% felonies, 51% misdemeanors, 22% non-criminal and 2% with an unknown severity.
Wisconsin's AFIS system was first installed in 1993, and major upgrades to the system occurred in 2003 and in 2009-10. In addition to increasing database capacity, the latest upgrade included lights-out processing, including automated transactions between the various WIDOJ system interfaces. The WIDOJ is currently facing a need to upgrade its AFIS system once again. As a result of a recent analysis, Wisconsin's AFIS system will need to be upgraded structurally and increase capacity to avoid missing key reporting benchmarks. In addition to increasing storage size, this upgrade will offer additional functionality and support the Federal Bureau of Investigation's latest Next Generation Identification (NGI) specifications. This upgrade would include implementing the latest FBI Electronic Biometric Standards (EBTS), which would replace the current Wisconsin standard.
CA/NCF