CJJIS Council Projects
CJNet

Oversees ongoing development of the CJNet, recommend needed policies, plan for growth of the network, recommend priorities on the types of applications it should support and devise strategies for cooperative funding, both through the federal government’s grant programs and the legislative appropriations process.



FALCON Project

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), in its mission of promoting safety and protecting life, is a nationwide leader in information technology for preventing, investigating, solving, and prosecuting crimes. Its computerized criminal history records (CCH) represent the third largest state criminal history repository in the nation: over 4 million offenders, 15 million arrests. The CCH, along with an automated fingerprint repository (AFIS), has been an invaluable source of information for criminal justice agencies, government, and the public.

The system was good, but outdated, and is now being revolutionized. FALCON, Florida's Integrated Criminal History System, is soaring into the future. Previously, the identification of suspected or convicted criminals and the access to computerized criminal histories were achieved through the use of multiple systems, such as the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS ), the Florida Crime Information Center (FCIC) or through one of the specialized systems such as access through the internet. These systems were increasingly unable to handle the demands placed upon them by the criminal justice community and other entities requiring rapid identification services.

FALCON, Florida's new Integrated Criminal History System, will be a state-of-the-art search/report system that more effectively cross-matches fingerprints and criminal histories; includes photographs (faces, tattoos); searches national and other criminal justice databases; and allows instantaneous updating of criminal justice information systems. FALCON's fast, comprehensive, well-formatted reports will offer great benefits to law enforcement, government, and anyone who depends on fast and accurate accesses to criminal justice information.

http://www.falconichs.com/



Information Technology FLEX Project


Various law enforcement regional data integration projects are currently under development in Florida. These projects, working in conjunction with the state’s seven Regional Domestic Security Task Forces, will share law enforcement information between sheriffs offices and police departments within their region. The seven projects and an eighth state law enforcement data node will be connected together by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) into a single, statewide data sharing system. The system, coined the Florida Law Enforcement eXchange (FLEX) will provide law enforcement across the state the ability to quickly and easily access and analyze the thousands of records found in individual city, county and state law enforcement agencies records management systems. Information such as local field interview reports, pawn data, incident, dispatch and offense information will for the first time be searchable by agencies outside of the agency of ownership and made instantly accessible to law enforcement officers from Pensacola to Key West.

Statewide connectivity of these currently disparate records management systems is being coordinated through the Criminal and Juvenile Justice Information Systems (CJJIS) Council. The Council’s statutory responsibility, as provided in 943.08, F.S., specifically includes “facilitating the identification, standardization, sharing, and coordination of criminal and juvenile justice data and other public safety system data among federal, state, and local agencies.”

The project’s plan, divided into three phases, calls for statewide data mapping, the establishment of physical infrastructure, and the implementation of analytical abilities and visualization tools.

http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/flex/


Statute Table Standardized Reporting Task Force


Prior to 1988, statute was not an element in the Florida criminal history repository. The data entry was driven by the Arrest Offense Number (AON), which is an FBI code standard. When statutes were initially introduced, FDLE accepted any statute reference submitted, but staff realized that there was a need to ensure the validity of the information. Information recorded in the state repository must conform to a state standard. FDLE began preparing and publishing statute tables for arrest and disposition reporting to the state.

The state table has severe limitations on fields such as charge description due to limits in the CCH database. Many State Attorneys have developed their own statute tables to address this deficiency, the lack of city/county ordinances and other local needs. There are far more statute tables in use in Florida than the 20 judicial circuits. The first group to have to deal with problems created by inconsistencies among statute tables was the Clerks of Court. Most of them have developed conversion programs from their local State Attorney table to the state’s standard table.

Now with the advent of significant automation of police agencies, and specifically with Jail Management Systems, the validations of the statute table force standardization at the time of booking. Officers are caught between using the statute tables provided by their State Attorneys and the FDLE arrest statute table that is provided to booking agencies.

DISCUSSION
  • WHO – The versioning of the statute table impacts Police, Sheriffs, Clerks of the Court, States Attorneys and FDLE.
  • WHAT – Multiple versions of the statute table exist due to local needs defined by the State Attorneys. These multiple versions are not standardized or normalized. State Attorney Tables often include additional coded information that is not in the actual Florida Statute.
  • WHEN – This situation occurs throughout the criminal justice process from arrest/booking through prosecution/adjudication. When a validation is required the lack of a common table can create exceptions that require handling.
  • WHY – The root cause is two-fold: 1) The FDLE Statute Table is designed to meet the format and needs of the CCH and does not meet the needs of the State Attorneys. 2) Automation and data sharing between systems enforce business rules that are impacted by the lack of a standardized Statute Table.

HB 5401 requires FDLE to modify the existing statewide uniform statute table that is used in the Computerized Criminal History System to meet the business requirements of state and local criminal justice and law enforcement agencies. The required system modifications and adopted rules shall be implemented 12/31/2012.

ANALYSIS

The 2010 Legislature passed HB 5401, which amends Chapter 943.03 of the Florida Statutes. This bill was passed to improve criminal history use within the criminal justice community through enhanced information sharing and establishing of standards between Florida’s criminal justice agencies and law enforcement agencies.

FDLE has been given the responsibility to gather business requirements, make modifications the uniform statute table, implement system modifications and adopt rules for compliance.

The Bill addresses three specific action items:
  1. Define minimum business requirements for successful implementation.
  2. Consider business requirements of the stakeholders namely:
    1. Sheriffs
    2. Police
    3. State Attorneys
    4. Public Defenders
    5. Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel
    6. Clerks of Court
    7. Judges
    8. State Law Enforcement Agencies
  3. Adopt rules establishing the necessary technical and business process standards required to implement, operate and ensure uniform system use and compliance.

RECOMMENDATION

FDLE recommends the following activities:
  • Initial Analysis: Completed 7/2010
  • CJJIS Council to identify persons with Domain expertise to participate on a core team
  • Legal Validation
  • Implementation of a Short-term Solution within current limitations