Massachusetts FY24 NCHIP

The Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (EOPSS) in partnership with Department of Criminal Justice Information Services (DCJIS) is proposing to conduct projects to improve disposition matching in the Commonwealth and CJIS web modernization. Improving Disposition Matching in the Commonwealth is a strategic initiative aimed at improving Massachusetts' criminal history information and disposition reporting by improving data quality, computer systems, business processes, auditing, training, and will address staffing shortages. According to the Survey of State Criminal History Information Systems (SSCHIS) in 2020, Massachusetts reported a 10-year average of 17% of all arrests with a final disposition.  It is imperative that Massachusetts improve the dispositions included in the Massachusetts State Police Criminal History (CHRI), ONEIII, the system that provides fingerprint supported information to the FBI for criminal justice and non-criminal justice agencies. DCJS plans to address resource constraints and process deficiencies by hiring temporary staff within the criminal history section of the State Police’s State Identification Section.  The temporary staff will work to educate, document, and inform criminal justice agencies about the importance of accurate, complete, and timely information, as well as improve the Massachusetts disposition rate by reviewing the unmatched queue, reporting issues to the courts and law enforcement agencies, and work to improve the match rate of reported dispositions within Criminal Justice systems. This project will enhance data interfaces and data exchanges between computer systems to improve automated synchronization of disposition records. By optimizing and automating the flow of information and effective use of the OBTN (Arrest Tracking Number in Massachusetts) generated by the records management system at the arresting agency and included on live scan fingerprint submissions to the state Automated Fingerprint Identification System and sent to the Courts by the Electronic Application for Criminal Complaint system, this project will promote and enforce information sharing standards from arrest to disposition.  Expected outcomes include improved data quality and disposition matching, facilitated interoperability across different criminal justice systems, reduced errors, and will provide a comprehensive, integrated approach to data management to improve dispositions recorded in One III. The CJISWeb Modernization project aims to revitalize the Department of Criminal Justice Information Systems' (DCJIS) existing CJISWeb platform, a critical resource for Massachusetts law enforcement, prosecutors, and courts, thus created to protect public safety and national security enforcement agencies and their federal partners. CJIS Web is provided at no cost to authorized users by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and supports over 46,000 users and 586 agencies access to OneIII, including records in NCIC, criminal history record information available through the III, interstate NLETS information and denial records in the NICS Indices.