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FY 2020 NICS Act Record Improvement Program (NARIP)

Award Information

Award #
2020-NS-BX-K016
Location
Congressional District
Status
Open
Funding First Awarded
2020
Total funding (to date)
$2,201,507

Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2020, $2,201,507)

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 FY 20 NARIP, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement will use funding to carry out four (4) projects. Project 1 is an Electronic Warrant and Protection Order System Implementation which FDLE, in conjunction with Florida's law enforcement community and criminal justice agencies, will validate that the entry of warrants, protection orders, and risk protection orders into the FCIC/NCIC is complete, current, timely and accurate to guarantee both officer and public safety. This includes assuring individuals with active warrants, protection orders and risk protection orders that do not meet the criteria to purchase and/or possess a firearm are denied in accordance with NICS. Project 2 is a mental health commitment (MECOM) project where the clerks of court are required to submit criminal court dispositions as well as mental health records that are disqualifying for the purchase or possession of a firearm. FDLE will conduct personnel services to advertise, screen, hire, and perform background checks on applicants for positions. Clerks will train personnel and provide appropriate level of access to location and systems that will allow the employee to identify and submit disqualifying mental health records. Clerks are authorized to grant additional access to systems and files as is appropriate to the experience and training level of the employee. The MOU shall state the work schedule and number of hours for each employee. Project 3 is the Firearm Eligibility Bureau (FEB) Staffing project. The FEB completed 1,002,263 record checks for firearm transfers for Calendar year 2019. The overall number of transactions and appeal requests requiring additional research has increased proportionally. This has also led to an increase in the number of customer service calls FEB handles daily. In order to maintain requirements as the point of contact for Florida and assist other states and the FBI in meeting federal requirements, additional staffing to assist in research and call taking is being requested. Lastly, project 4 is project where FDLE is identified and required by Chapter 943, F.S. to act as the central repository for criminal history records for the State of Florida. In accordance with this mission, records of all criminal events that start with a fingerprinted arrest are included in the criminal history database. FDLE currently has in excess of 7.1 million criminal history records containing over 27.7 million arrest entries. Floridas CCH file and the states AFIS, Biometric Identification Solution (BIS), are designed to electronically accept arrest events from booking agencies immediately after the fingerprints are taken. For older arrests, however, the process was not as streamlined as it is today. As a result, some Florida arrest events exist at the county level and at the FBI that are not included in CCH file. FDLE has over 500,000 fingerprint cards stored on microfilm that are not included in BIS that need to be entered. (CA/NCF)

Date Created: November 2, 2020