Oregon's 2018 NICS Act 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 the 2018 NARIP priority areas, the Oregon State Police (OSP) will administer 2 projects: NICS Reconciliation Team to review and improve the reporting of qualifying records; and the Oregon Judicial Department (OJD) will research, design and implement a solution to improve the uniform crime judgment (UCJ) reporting for courts statewide.

NICS Reconciliation Support: OSP will use NARIP funds to support a 2018 team consisting of two positions (Information Systems Specialist and Operations and Policy Analyst) over the course of 24 months. The goal of the team is to ensure that all targeted records are made available to NICS either through NCIC, III, or the NICS Indices in a timely manner. OSP will also continue work on the newly established Criminal Arrest Record Disposition System (CARDS) tool built to assist records staff in mining data directly from the courts system for older missing Oregon records that pertain to firearm disqualifying charges. The goal for record completeness is to obtain real-time court disposition actions as soon as they occur and minimize delays in reporting case outcomes. The Information Systems Specialist will serve as the technical SME and liaison between OSP records staff and IT experts within OJD to review data reports, identify deficiencies within the data transfer from OJD to OSP, and develop methods that allow records to be reported directly to the repository without resulting in error. The Operations and Policy Analyst will be responsible for reviewing, revising and developing a better assessment method for determining the current rate of record completeness at the repository level, tracking progress made specific to the NIAA and firearm disqualification categories, ensuring the CARDS tool and Prohibited Person File for disqualified persons are working as designed, and confirming that the objective for court data, including sufficient information regarding convictions for misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence, are met.

Oregon Judicial Department (OJD) UCJ Reporting Improvement: OJD will implement new functionality to the existing eCourt system through contract services with Tyler Technologies, Inc. (TTI). The project team, consisting of OJD staff and members of TTI, will review existing issues that hinder data sharing, gather requirements to configure the application, determine scope, develop and implement proposed solutions, write, communicate, and train court staff and stakeholders on updated and new court processes to reach efficiency levels. The project will focus on the development of transferrable codes that identify persons prohibited from purchasing and possessing firearms as a result of a conviction for domestic violence offenses. Currently, the federal firearm restrictions do not directly match to all Oregon statutes which may be considered crimes of domestic violence. The result will be improved automation and integrated transmittal of records to OSP and other public safety agencies to provide quicker, more accurate, and more efficient reporting of qualifying domestic violence convictions relating to state and federal firearm disqualifications.

(CA/NCF)