The alaska department of public safety (DPS) is requesting funding for three criminal justice technicians (CJTS) and one criminal justice specialist to maintain and update the national instant…

The Alaska Department of Public Safety (DPS) was awarded a $808,569 Cooperative Agreement from the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics under the NICS Act Record Improvement Program (CFDA 16.813). The funding will support three Criminal Justice Technicians and one Criminal Justice Specialist to maintain and update the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) indices and the Interstate Identification Index (III). This includes processing NICS requests, manually entering and maintaining non-criminal records, researching misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence convictions, and reducing a backlog of over 157,000 records with missing dispositions. Additionally, the award will fund the replacement of end-of-life workstations for the Permits and Licensing Units, staff travel to the FBI NICS Conference, and a subgrant to the Alaska Court System to maintain and improve their eFiling system and prepare for digitizing a backlog of criminal case files. The project period runs from January 1, 2025 to December 31, 2026.

The alaska department of public safety (DPS) is requesting funding for three criminal justice technicians (CJTS) and one criminal justice specialist to maintain and update the national instant criminal background check system (NICS) indices and the interstate identification index (III). These duties include processing NICS requests; manually entering and maintaining non-criminal records, state probationary conditions which disqualify an individual from owning or possessing firearms; brady qualifying domestic violence protective orders; and researching misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence (MCDV) convictions for submission into the NICS indices. Each MCDV conviction must be assessed to determine if IT constitutes a firearm disqualification; there are roughly 61,000 convictions to be reviewed. There are currently over 157,000 records with missing dispositions in the repository. Funding is being requested for one CJT to research and update these records. Additionally, DPS is requesting funding to replace the permits and licensing units program staffs workstations that are at end of life and out of warranty. Travel funds are being requested for staff members to attend the FBI NICS conference. DPS will subgrant funds to alaska court system for its efile project. The ACS efile courtroom solution includes the ability to pre-populate electronic forms that can be edited and finalized from the bench. A programmer analyst is needed to maintain and continue to improve this system and electronic forms, and the timeliness of dispositions issued from IT. Two records clerks will continue to prepare for digitizing a backlog of criminal case files pre-dating efile to increase timely accessibility to criminal dispositions needed at the state and federal level. Training funds are requested in the event of a vacancy.