Alabama FY2018 National Criminal History Improvement Program (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 this award, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) will continue to improve the quality, completeness, and accessibility of criminal history data at the state and national levels. Funds will be used to: 1) automate the process of making domestic violence dispositions available to the national systems; 2) automate the manual process for records to be made available to the state’s computerized criminal history (CCH) system and the FBI’s national systems; 3) convert hardcopy dispositions forms to electronic records within the state CCH; 4) reduce the backlog of fingerprint-based arrest records; and 5) develop a Criminal History Information Quality Assurance Program that focuses on identifying gaps in record reporting and availability.

Additionally, funds will be used to upgrade Alabama’s decade old Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) with Next Generation Identification (NGI) capability for processing better fingerprint data and providing for a faster verification and validation process. ALEA is requesting funds to purchase and integrate livescan workstations to the AFIS.

(CA/NCF)