Under this award, the virginia department of state police requests funds for the following projects: project 1: VCIN hotfiles improvement project

This Cooperative Agreement award from the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics (CFDA 16.554 National Criminal History Improvement Program) provides $3,350,680 to the Virginia Department of State Police (VSP) to undertake three key projects:

1. VCIN Hotfiles Improvement Project: VSP will work with Mission Critical Partners to document current VCIN hotfile applications and interfaces, and develop plans to upgrade or replace VCIN hotfiles for wanted persons, missing persons, vehicles/boats, protective orders, and other critical law enforcement data.

2. VCIN Alignment with FBI and NLETS Standards: VSP will enhance the Virginia Criminal Justice Message Switch to implement NIEM XML standards for FBI CJIS and NLETS transactions, improving data exchange with federal criminal justice agencies.

3. Criminal Sealing Bill Implementation: VSP will augment the existing Criminal Sealing Project team at the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Virginia Courts with 5 contract resources to automate processes for sealing certain criminal records, supporting rehabilitation and reducing recidivism.

The award period runs from January 1, 2025 to December 31, 2026.

The virginia criminal information network (VCIN) is an extensive, complex computer application with over 700 system-to-system interfaces. VSP is initiating a 45-year project to upgrade or replace VCIN hotfiles (wanted persons, missing persons, vehicles/boats and parts, protective orders, violent gangs and gang members, etc.) and interfaces. VSP will use grant funds to provide the necessary documentation to upgrade or replace VCIN hotfiles. This grant will be used to procure the services of mission critical partners (MCP) to help VSP document the current VCIN hotfile applications and interfaces and document hotfile project plans/scope, alternative solutions, and the benefits/costs of each alternative, legal and policy implications, and requirements. MCP will highlight opportunities to improve hotfile processes and data accuracy. Project 2: VCIN alignment with FBI and nlets standards.funds are requested for enhancements to the virginia criminal justice message switch that would allow for the implementation of niem XML for both FBI cjis and nlets transactions, including interfaces with the states criminal history repository. VSP will utilize existing state contracts with computer projects of illinois (CPI) and gcom software to convert ncic messaging to and from virginia to niem XML, and develop, test, and implement the related interfaces. This project is crucial for ensuring seamless communication and data exchange between virginia and federal criminal justice agencies, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of our state's criminal justice system.project 3: the criminal sealing bill. The criminal sealing project was established at the office of executive secretary (OES) VA courts to implement automated processes for sealing the cases and court records for certain convictions, deferred dispositions, and acquittals and for offenses that have been nolle prosequi or otherwise dismissed. The bill also allows a person to petition for the sealing of police and court records relating to certain convictions. Ongoing data analysis efforts have revealed new sealing scenarios that can only be fully automated with significant cleanup and updates to the data. The proposed grant funding would be used to augment the existing criminal sealing project team with 5 new contract resources for the timely implementation of the required changes to OES systems to meet the requirements of the criminal sealing bill legislation (HB2113/SB1339) by july 1, 2025, and stabilize the system. This project is crucial for ensuring the fair and efficient handling of criminal records, promoting rehabilitation, and reducing recidivism rates in our state.