Criminal History System Enhancement and Live Scan Replacement Efforts

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 2016 NCHIP priority 1 area of updating and automating case outcomes in state records and the FBI Criminal History File, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS), through the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) will manage two projects: enhance the Criminal History System (CHS) with the ability to conduct Interstate Identification Index (III) queries; and Livescan replacement project.

Criminal History III Queries: Minnesota is currently in the process of developing a replacement of the state Criminal History System (CHS) which is expected to be deployed in mid-2017. The DPS was awarded NCHIP funds in 2015 to automate criminal history records to make them more readily available. To build on the continuing development of their CHS, the BCA, would like to add the ability to query III information through the CHS user interface. Through user feedback groups and demonstrations of CHS prototypes, the BCA learned that enhancing the CHS with the ability to conduct III queries will improve usability for all CHS users. The ability to perform the III queries within the new CHS system will ensure that CHS users have complete information regarding a subjectÂ’s criminal history. The timely retrieval of a complete and accurate criminal history record is vital in making appropriate decisions regarding offense escalations, firearm restrictions, predatory offender registration and other legal decisions.

Livescan Replacement: BCA will replace 32 Livescan devices which at the end of their lifespan. These devices reside in criminal justice agencies throughout the state and are used for capturing criminal bookings, to include correctional intake and offender supervision. In September 2014, the BCA was notified by the current Livescan vendor that of the current 180 Livescan devices throughout the state, 160 are considered at “end of life” as of March 2016. In 2016, the BCA received NCHIP funds to replace 28 Livescans and will continue the process by replacing the Livescans at the identified locations. The state currently receives 99% of its criminal submission electronically through the use of Livescans. These submissions are subsequently forwarded to the FBI’s Next Generation Identification System (NGI) within hours of the booking event. The criminal fingerprint submissions from each of the 32 locations per year range from 385 to 988 per device. In addition, BCA will purchase 4 Livescan machines with state matching funds for a total of 36 replacement Livescans. BCA plans to create a deployment schedule, taking into consideration the highest risk for failure, and deploy all 36 Livescans by March 2017. (CA/NCF)