The maine department of public safety is requesting funding under the FY 2025 consolidated national criminal history improvement program to improve the quality, completeness, accessibility, and…

The Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Statistics awarded the Maine Department of Public Safety a cooperative agreement totaling $1,007,456 under the National Criminal History Improvement Program (CFDA 16.554) on October 1, 2026, for the period ending September 30, 2028.

The award funds improvements to Maine's criminal history records infrastructure serving more than 240 criminal justice agencies statewide. Deliverables include replacement of six aging livescan fingerprint devices at high-volume law enforcement agencies to maintain electronic capture and transmission of fingerprint-supported arrest records; implementation of a Criminal Justice Information Services audit tool to streamline compliance audits and enhance data quality across agencies; enhancement of the computerized criminal history data quality dashboard to identify missing arrests, dispositions, fingerprints, and records related to domestic violence and firearm prohibitions; and modernization of the Metro Message Switch through implementation of NIEM XML enhancements for FBI CJIS and NCIC third-generation messaging standards. These upgrades will improve interoperability and data sharing among law enforcement, prosecutors, and courts while strengthening support for criminal history background checks, firearm eligibility determinations, and information exchange with national systems including NCIC, NICS, III, NLETS, and NGI.

Work is performed in Augusta, Maine.

The maine department of public safety is requesting funding under the FY 2025 consolidated national criminal history improvement program to improve the quality, completeness, accessibility, and security of criminal history records and related public safety information systems throughout the state of maine. The proposed projects support critical statewide criminal justice infrastructure used by more than 240 criminal justice agencies and improve the availability of records used for criminal history background checks, firearm eligibility determinations, and information sharing with national systems including ncic, nics, III, nlets, and NGI. As part of this effort, the maine state police bureau of identification will replace six aging livescan fingerprint devices located at high volume law enforcement agencies to ensure the continued electronic capture and transmission of fingerprint supported arrest records. The state will also continue implementation of its cjis audit tool, which streamlines compliance audits, improves accountability, and enhances data quality across criminal justice agencies statewide. In addition, maine will enhance its computerized criminal history data quality dashboard to improve the ability to identify missing arrests, dispositions, fingerprints, and records related to domestic violence and firearm prohibitions. The upgraded analytics tools will strengthen data sharing between law enforcement, prosecutors, courts, and criminal history systems while improving support for nics background check decisions. Maine will also modernize its metro message switch by implementing niem XML enhancements required for FBI cjis and ncic third generation messaging standards. This upgrade will improve interoperability, strengthen secure information sharing nationwide, and ensure continued compliance with federal criminal justice information exchange requirements.