Nebraska State Patrol FY 2017 NCHIP

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.

The Nebraska State Patrol (NSP) will conduct several projects to continue to build off of the efforts of prior year awards and improve the quality, completeness and availability of their criminal records.

Criminal History Record Systems Upgrade – This project will focus on improving the timeliness of the reports directly affecting the ability of NSP staff to increase completeness and accuracy of the criminal history records at the Repository. Additionally, the state will maintain its Patrol Criminal History (PCH) system and ongoing compatibility with other state systems, as well as the federal systems, such as the Interstate Identification Index (III), the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), and the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) Index.

Statute Based Coding - The objective of this project is to change the current practice of using NCIC Offense Codes to use statute numbers to identify the specific crimes. This is a collaborative effort involving the NSP, Administrative Office of the Courts, Commission on Crime and Law Enforcement and local criminal justice agencies including law enforcement, corrections and prosecutors. The goal of the project is to get all agencies reporting arrest, prosecution and disposition information using uniform terminology.

Update CH Records Base and Expansion Project - The Base Project began with 67,417 State Identification (SID) files with an invalid Document Control Number (DCN). As of December 31, 2016, 29,299 records remain to be worked. The Expansion Project focuses on cases without dispositions between 2000 and 2014. This timeframe was targeted because JUSTICE (the court system) was being used in all Nebraska counties by the year 2000 and arrests newer than 2014 may still be in the court process.

Concealed and Carry Weapons (CCW) Permit Criminal History Record Project - The NSP is the only Carry Concealed Weapon and Explosives (CCW) Permit issuing agency in Nebraska. When processing the CCW permit applications, a criminal history background check is conducted to determine eligibility. Applicant information verification and background checks are conducted through federal, state, county courts and local law enforcement records.

CH Audit Process - The criminal history auditing process identifies discrepancies in records, fingerprinting, and disposition information maintained by the submitting agencies and the central repository.

Enhanced AFIS Capabilities. NSP recently funded and completed a major upgrade of the Nebraska AFIS. During the course of the upgrade, additional functionality was identified that was considered outside the scope of the upgrade project and not considered essential to the normal operation of the new AFIS. These enhancements will improve the efficiency of processing criminal fingerprints by replacing time-consuming manual processes with automation.

Converting Manual Records to Electronic - Nebraska’s repository of criminal history records, continues to grow at the rate of 12% over the last four years due to new arrests, CCW Permits and Application requests. Without an automated records retention system, the state records retention requirement to purge records is nearly impossible, as each record must be manually reviewed.

(CA/NCF)