The Department of Justice has opened the application period for federally recognized Tribes and intertribal consortia to participate in the Tribal Access Program (TAP) for National Crime Information. TAP enhances public safety by enabling these tribes to access and exchange data with national crime information databases, including the FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC).
“This program allows our tribal partners to access, enter, and obtain information from the National Criminal Information Center,” said U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson. “Access to this database will further support investigations and collaboration between tribal, federal, local, and state law enforcement.”
Suzanne Drywater, Senior Director of Justice Services for the Cherokee Nation, noted that as a TAP Pilot Tribe, they have utilized TAP for various purposes such as sex offender registrations and foster home certification. “Our tribe has been able to exercise our sovereignty, and TAP has proven to be an invaluable resource that we use daily in a multitude of ways,” she stated.
Currently, 149 federally recognized Tribes are part of TAP, including seven within the Northern District of Oklahoma. The program provides necessary software, hardware, training, web-based applications, and biometric/biographic kiosk workstations to process fingerprints and other data.
Tribes using TAP have shared information about missing persons; entered domestic violence orders of protection; registered convicted sex offenders; run criminal histories; located fugitives; entered bookings and convictions; and completed fingerprint-based record checks for non-criminal justice purposes.
Applications for TAP will be accepted from July 9 to August 29. Selected Tribes will be notified in September. Informational webinars describing the program will be conducted throughout July and August. More details are available at www.justice.gov/tribal/tribal-access-program-tap.
TAP is funded by several offices including the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking; the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services; the Office for Victims of Crime; and the Office on Violence Against Women. It is co-managed by the department’s Office of the Chief Information Officer and Office of Tribal Justice.
