Missouri NICS Record Improvement Program

The NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007, Pub. L. 110-180 ("NICS Improvement Act"), was signed into law by the President on January 8, 2008. The NICS Improvement Act 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 NICS Improvement Act authorizes grants to be made in a manner consistent with the National Criminal History Improvement Program (NCHIP).

Under this award, the Missouri State Highway Patrol (MSHP) will work with the Missouri Office of Prosecution Services (MOPS) to implement improved criminal history record capture procedures in Missouri prosecutors' offices, and law enforcement agencies. Missouri implemented its first state AFIS in 1989. Since then, there have been several system refreshes and at least two major upgrades. Missouri has been operating the current AFIS version for eight years and has now reached the point where a system upgrade is required if Missouri is to continue AFIS operations, as the current system has incurred significant water damage, is out of compliance with FBI CJIS Security requirements, experiences system downtime with increasing duration and frequency, and has reached the "end of life". Once the AFIS system is upgraded, the workstations will also need to be replaced. Funding is being requested to purchase AFIS workstations for MSHP and several remote partners. These locations were selected based on the estimated number of fingerprints that would be collected and the number of agencies able to use the workstation at the selected location. In addition, MOPS is requesting funding to employ three full-time personnel to assist with the implementation of a new in-house case management system to improve NICS criminal history and disposition reporting by prosecutors. (CA/NCF)