FY 2020 Iowa NARIP

The NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007, P. L. 110-180 ("NIAA"), was initially signed into law by the President on January 8, 2008 (reauthorized by Title VI of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018, P.L. 115-141). The NIAA 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 NIAA authorizes grants to be made in a manner consistent with the National Criminal History Improvement Program (NCHIP).

Under the 2020 NARIP priority areas, the Iowa Department of Public Safety (IADPS) will use NARIP funds to purchase and install 33 Livescans for local law enforcement agencies. The current Livescan devices used by Sheriff’s Offices and Police Departments vary in age with many of the Livescans up to 15 years old, using Windows XP or Windows 7 and at their “end of life.” The aged Livescans are experiencing component failures, using an outdated and security vulnerable operating system and are at high risk of failure. Iowa has identified 33 of the Livescans still in service that collectively accounted for more than 14,000 electronic submissions in 2019. By replacing these outdated devices, Iowa will be able to avoid a regression to the manual submission of ink rolled fingerprint cards from these agencies.

The Livescan purchase project will support Iowa’s efforts to expand upon digital workflows, limit manual entry or re-entry of data, and improve updates to records while also significantly reducing the margin for human error and increasing quality control. The new Livescans will continue building on Iowa’s efforts to increase the number of records submitted electronically. The Livescan project will address the NARIP priority area of improved identification and reporting of domestic violence and mental health submissions to the NICS through an overall improvement in the quality of records Iowa collects and makes available to the NICS. Iowa will accomplish their goal by improving the quality, timeliness and quality of arrest and disposition data maintained in Iowa’s computerized criminal history records system through the replacement of 33 outdated Livescans at various local law enforcement agencies.

(CA/NCF)