HARRISBURG – The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) announced the receipt of more than $814,000 in grant funds from the U.S. Department of Justice to improve criminal records information throughout the Commonwealth. These funds will be invested in systems at the local level that increase compliance with booking procedures.
“It is vitally important that the criminal records used for background checks on individuals purchasing weapons, working with children, and holding sensitive government positions are accurate,” Chairman Josh Shapiro said.
“Unfortunately, we know that in many cases our criminal record databases are incomplete. We know that in the first quarter of 2015 alone, 1,549 people convicted of felonies in Pennsylvania were not properly entered into the criminal history database.
“These funds will help ensure that our hardworking law enforcement agencies and personnel have the equipment available that they need to make certain that Pennsylvania has accurate criminal histories.”
PCCD intends to provide LiveScan Plus devices to six counties and ten Pennsylvania State Police sub-stations. These devices allow for the electronic collection of data, including fingerprints and photographs, by one device and for that information to be immediately uploaded to state and federal systems.
In addition, funds will be used to streamline the process for the electronic processing of Protection from Abuse Orders (PFAs) and enhance the electronic submission of PFAs into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC).
This process will help to identify individuals not permitted to purchase a gun, due to committing a previous disqualifying offense, from attempted purchases in other states.
“PCCD has been working for years to increase the accuracy of Pennsylvania’s criminal records,” Shapiro said. “I’m proud to say that Pennsylvania has increased its offender identification rate from approximately 66 percent in 2006 to over 88 percent today, all through the help of PCCD funding.
“However, there is still more to do and we will continue to work with our criminal justice partner to address these issues.”
People can find more information about offender identification compliance on both a statewide and local level on our Criminal Justice Advisory Boards Data Dashboard. Click here and then navigate to Law Enforcement and select either “Offender Identification – State” or “Offender Identification – County” from the drop-down menu.