The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“CRIME IDENTIFICATION TECHNOLOGY ACT OF 1998” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Senate section on pages S8129-S8130 on July 14, 1998.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
CRIME IDENTIFICATION TECHNOLOGY ACT OF 1998
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I am delighted that the Senate passed the Crime Identification Technology Act of 1998, S. 2022.
I am proud to join Senator DeWine in supporting our bipartisan legislation to authorize comprehensive Department of Justice grants to every state for criminal justice identification, information and communications technologies and systems. I applaud the Senator from Ohio, Senator DeWine, for his leadership. I also commend the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee and the Democratic Leader for their strong support of the Crime Identification Technology Act.
I know from my experience in law enforcement in Vermont over the last 30 years that access to quality, accurate information in a timely fashion is of vital importance. As we prepare to enter the 21st Century, we must provide our state and local law enforcement officers with the resources to develop the latest technological tools and communications systems to solve and prevent crime. I believe this bill accomplishes that goal.
The Crime Identification Technology Act authorizes $250 million for each of the next five years in grants to states for crime information and identification systems. The Attorney General, through the Bureau of Justice Statistics, is directed to make grants to each state to be used in conjunction with units of local government, and other states, to use information and identification technologies and systems to upgrade criminal history and criminal justice record systems.
Grants made under our legislation may include programs to establish, develop, update or upgrade:
State, centralized, automated criminal history record information systems, including arrest and disposition reporting.
Automated fingerprint identification systems that are compatible with the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS) of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Finger imaging, live scan and other automated systems to digitize fingerprints and to communicate prints in a manner that is compatible with systems operated by states and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Systems to facilitate full participation in the Interstate Identification Index (III).
Programs and systems to facilitate full participation in the Interstate Identification Index National Crime Prevention and Privacy Compact.
Systems to facilitate full participation in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) for firearms eligibility determinations.
Integrated criminal justice information systems to manage and communicate criminal justice information among law enforcement, courts, prosecution, and corrections.
Non-criminal history record information systems relevant to firearms eligibility determinations for availability and accessibility to the NICS.
Court-based criminal justice information systems to promote reporting of dispositions to central state repositories and to the FBI and to promote the compatibility with, and integration of, court systems with other criminal justice information systems.
Ballistics identification programs that are compatible and integrated with the ballistics programs of the National Integrated Ballistics Network (NIBN).
Information, identification and communications programs for forensic purposes.
DNA programs for forensic and identification purposes.
Sexual offender identification and registration systems.
Domestic violence offender identification and information systems.
Programs for fingerprint-supported background checks for non-criminal justice purposes including youth service employees and volunteers and other individuals in positions of trust, if authorized by federal or state law and administered by a government agency.
Criminal justice information systems with a capacity to provide statistical and research products including incident-based reporting systems and uniform crime reports.
Online and other state-of-the-art communications technologies and programs.
Multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional communications systems to share routine and emergency information among federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.
Let me just give a couple of examples from my home State of Vermont that illustrate how our comprehensive legislation will aid state and local law enforcement agencies across the country.
The future of law enforcement must focus on working together to harness the power of today s information age to prevent crime and catch criminals. One way to work together is for state and local law enforcement agencies to band together to create efficiencies of scale. For example, together with New Hampshire and Maine, the State of Vermont has pooled its resources together to build a tri-state IAFIS system to identify fingerprints. Our bipartisan legislation would foster these partnerships by allowing groups of States to apply together for grants.
Another challange for law enforcement agencies across the country is communication difficulties between federal, state and local law enforcement officials. In a recent report, the Department of Justice s National Institute of Justice concluded that law enforcement agencies throughout the nation lack adequate communications systems to respond to crimes that cross state and local jurisdictions.
A 1997 incident along the Vermont and New Hampshire border underscored this problem. During a cross border shooting spree that left four people dead including two New Hampshire state troopers, Vermont and New Hampshire officers were forced to park two police cruisers next to one another to coordinate activities between federal, state and local law enforcement officers because the two states' police radios could not communicate with one another.
The Vermont Department of Public Safety, the Vermont U.S. Attorney s Office and others have reacted to this communications problem by developing the Northern Lights proposal. This project will allow the northern borders States of Vermont, New York, New Hampshire and Maine to integrate their law enforcement communications systems to better coordinate interdiction efforts and share intelligence data seamlessly.
Our legislation would provide grants for the development of integrated Federal, State and local law enforcement communications systems to foster cutting edge efforts like the Northern Lights project.
In addition, our bipartisan legislation will help each of our States meet its obligations under national anti-crime initiatives. For instance, the FBI will soon bring online NCIC 2000 and IAFIS which will require states to update their criminal justice systems for the country to benefit. States are also being asked to participate in several other national programs such as sexual offender registries, national domestic violence legislation, Brady Act, and National Child Protection Act.
Currently, there are no comprehensive programs to support these national crime-fighting systems. Our legislation will fill this void by helping the each State meet its obligations under these Federal laws.
The Crime Identification Technology Act provides a helping hand with the heavy hand of a top-down, Washington-knows-best approach. Unfortunately, some in Congress have pushed legislation mandating minute detail changes that States must make in their laws to qualify for Federal funds. Our bill rejects this approach. Instead, we provide the States with Federal support to improve their criminal justice idenfication, information and communication systems without prescriping new Federal mandates
Mr. President, we have patterned the administration of the technology grants under our bill after the highly successful DOJ National Criminal History Improvement Program (N-CHIP),which was created by the 1993 Brady Act.
The Vermont Department of Public Safety has received funds under the N-CHIP program for the past three years and I have been proud to strongly support their efforts. With that Federal assistance, Vermont has been achieved acquiring the automated fingerprint identification system in conjunction with Maine and New Hampshire, upgrading its records repository computer systems, as well as extending their online incident-based reporting system to local jurisdictions throughout Vermont. Our bill builds on the Justice Department s existing infrastructure under the successful N-CHIP program to provide fair and effective grant administration.
I know that the Justice Department, under Attorney General Reno's leadership, has made it a priority to modernize and automate criminal history records. Our legislation will continue that leadership by providing each State with the necessary resources to continue to make important efforts to bring their criminal justice systems up to date.
I urge my colleagues in the House of Representatives to act quickly on the Crime Identification Technology Act to ensure that each State has the resources to capture the power of emerging information and communications technologies to serve and protect all of our citizens.
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