The indiana judiciary courts requests funds on behalf of the indiana office of court technology (IOCT) to continue the work started in indiana under prior nics/narip grant awards to improve the…

The Indiana Judiciary Courts, acting on behalf of the Indiana Office of Court Technology (IOCT), received a $1,887,123 Cooperative Agreement award from the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics (CFDA 16.554 National Criminal History Improvement Program) to continue improving the quality, completeness, and timeliness of criminal records in Indiana.

The key products and services to be delivered under this award include:

• Replacing outdated LiveScan fingerprinting machines in 91 county jails across Indiana to ensure accurate booking and submission of fingerprint records to the state criminal history repository.
• Coordinating with the Indiana Sheriffs' Association and Indiana State Police to procure the new LiveScan machines and facilitate their installation and training at each jail location.

This award builds on prior NCHIP grants to Indiana to enhance the state's criminal justice information systems and aligns with the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act's focus on improving background check systems. The Supreme Court Office of Judicial Administration will serve as a sub-grantee to implement the LiveScan machine upgrades across the state.

The indiana judiciary courts requests funds on behalf of the indiana office of court technology (IOCT) to continue the work started in indiana under prior nics/narip grant awards to improve the quality, completeness, and timeliness of records available to not only the state criminal history record system but also to nics. Many indiana jails need to replace their current livescan machines but they do not have the necessary funding to do so. Years ago, the indiana state police had a funding source to provide each of indianas 91 county jails with a new livescan machine. This funding is no longer available, and most county jails have not been able to obtain the necessary funding from their local county authorities to upgrade or replace their outdated fingerprint machines. Livescan machines are a critical piece and the starting point toward ensuring that all arrests are accurately booked and fingerprints are received by the criminal history repository, or chris, which is housed at the indiana state police. Without them, a jail will have to resort to paper prints. As will be explained later in this grant proposal, the jails, prosecutors and courts have been working together to improve the quality, completeness and timeliness of information sent to chris. Without operable fingerprinting machines at the jails, the entire process will result in fewer records and incomplete records in chris. IOCT is requesting funds to replace livescan machines in the jails. IOCT will coordinate with both the indiana sheriffs association and the indiana state police to procure the machines and will facilitate the training and installation at each jail location.