Nebraska State Patrol FY 2018 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.

Under the FY 18 award, 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) Indices.

Update CH Records Base and Expansion Project - The Base Project began with 67,417 State Identification (SID) files with an invalid DCN. As of December 31, 2017, there are 24,411 records remaining to be worked. The Expansion Project focuses on cases without dispositions between 2000 and 2014. This timeframe was targeted because JUSTICE (court case management system) was being used in all Nebraska counties by the year 2000 and arrests newer than 2014 may still be in the court process. There are 16,040 felony, 1,575 non-felony drug, and 2,868 non-felony assault charges identified as of December 2017 in the Expansion Project.

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. Additionally, the NICS Indices, NCIC, III, and mental health records are researched for possible disqualifiers. If a disqualifier is discovered, the permit is denied.

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. Funds will be used to continue efforts by auditing team to travel to agencies across the state to review records, train staff and update records in the state system as necessary.

(CA/NCF)