The south carolina law enforcement division (SLED) will use funds for several projects to support current projects and address gaps in reporting criminal history information

The State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) of South Carolina received a $3,422,232 Cooperative Agreement award from the Bureau of Justice Statistics under the National Criminal History Improvement Program (CFDA 16.554) to enhance the state's criminal history records and related systems. The key products and services delivered through this funding include migrating SLED's Automated Fingerprint Information System (AFIS) to the Microsoft Azure Government Cloud, adding new biometric capabilities to participate in the FBI's Next Generation Identification (NGI) program, increasing database storage, implementing cloud-based disaster recovery, enhancing vendor-managed security and CJIS compliance, and improving system accuracy and technical support. These improvements will enable SLED to more fully participate in the NGI program, including preparing for the addition of Rap Back capabilities. The award period is from October 1, 2023 through September 30, 2026.

SLED proposed to US funds to migrate the existing automated fingerprint information system (AFIS) to the microsoft azure government cloud environment. SLED looks to add the ability to capture additional biometric identifiers to participate more fully in the fbis next generation of identification (NGI). The upgrade will also take advantage of increased database storage, cloud-based disaster recovery, enhanced vendor-managed security and cjis compliance, enhanced system accuracy, 24/7/365 vendor technical support, and future technology (hardware and software) upgrades, all included in the yearly fee. As a result of these projects, SLED will be poised to participate in the fbis next generation of identification (NGI) system more fully, including preparation for adding RAP back capabilities.