Federal Bureau of Investigation CJIS Division

1. Federal Bureau of Investigation CJIS Division PROTECT Act Pilot Program

2. Feasibility Study • The PROTECT Act required the Attorney General to: • Establish a pilot program for volunteer groups to obtain national and state fingerprint-based criminal history background checks. • State Pilot Program • Child Safety Pilot Program • Conduct a feasibility study and to submit an Interim report to Congress by October 29, 2003.

3. Feasibility Study • Methodology • Conducted a mail survey of all states, territories and the District of Columbia. • Conducted telephone survey of over 300 local law enforcement agencies. • Analyzed research gathered by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and SEARCH. • Analyzed state legislation pertaining to background checks on individuals who provide care to children. • Conducted telephone or personal interviews of three state representatives, one federal representative and and one representative of a private agency.

4. Major Findings • Current state of fingerprint capture and processing at the state and local level. • Twenty-two states indicated fingerprints are captured by ink and roll and live scan. • Twenty-five states indicated fingerprints are captured by ink and roll only. One state indicated fingerprints were captured by live scan only. • Thirty-five states indicated they submit at least a portion of their fingerprints to the FBI electronically. Fourteen states indicated they submit fingerprints by mail only. • Sixty-one percent of state submissions are sent to the FBI electronically.

5. Major Findings • System Capacity • Defined as the number of additional fingerprints that could be processed in a year • System capacity ranged from 0 (13 states) to unlimited (5 states). • Fifteen states indicated they had an additional capacity of 100,000 or less fingerprints a year. • Five states indicated they have an additional capacity of over 100,000 fingerprints a year. • One state indicated its capacity was significant. • Twelve states indicated their capacity was unknown or did not answer the question.

6. Major Findings • Processing Time • Defined as the time of receipt by the state to date of submission to the FBI. • Processing time ranged from 1 day to 42 days. • The average time to scan a fingerprint card and submit it to the FBI electronically is 8 days. • The average to time to process a fingerprint card and mail it to the FBI is 5 days. • The average time to process a live scan submission is 1 day.

7. Major Findings • Fees • The FBI fees are $18 ($16 for billing states) for volunteers and $24 ($22 for billing states) for all other providers. • All of the responding states (50), and the District of Columbia charge fees for conducting criminal history record searches on employees and volunteers. • The fees for fingerprint-based searches range from $6 in Arizona to $75 in New York. The mode fee for a performing a fingerprint search is $15.

8. Major Findings • Fees • The fees for name-based searches range from $2 in Wisconsin to $30 in Massachusetts. The mode fee for a name-based search is $10. • Thirteen states reported they charge a lesser fee for volunteers or non-profit organizations. • Thirty-three percent of local law enforcement agencies surveyed reported they charged a fee for capturing fingerprints. The mode fee was $10.

9. Major Findings • The existence of “model” programs which could be expanded and duplicated in other states. • Ohio Web-check and N-Fax pilot project • California • Tennessee • Oregon • Vermont • New York

10. Major Findings • Extent of State participation in the National Child Protection Act, as amended by the Volunteers for Children Act • Twenty-six respondents indicated they are submitting fingerprints in accordance with the procedures in the NCPA/VCA. • Obstacles to State participation in NCPA/VCA • Absence of appropriate legislation • Lack of agency to conduct fitness determinations. • Lack of funding and resources • Requirement to track dispositions • Absence of uniform set of fitness criteria.

11. Major Findings • The extent to which States currently provide access to nationwide criminal history background checks to organizations that serve children. • Forty-eight states have enacted legislation permitting organizations that work with children to perform state and national criminal background checks. • Applicants for adoption or foster parents; child care, child placement, or child treatment; school employees; school district employees • Eight states have legislation permitting background checks on employees and volunteers working with children in religious, charitable or recreation organizations

12. Major Findings • Intent of States concerning participation in a nationwide system of criminal background checks. • Of the the 26 respondents that indicated they are currently submitting fingerprints in accordance with the NCPA/VCA, 21 indicated they intended to participate in a nationwide system of criminal background checks. • Of the 26 respondents that indicated they are not currently submitting fingerprints in accordance with the NCPA/VCA, 14 indicated they intended to participate in a nationwide system of criminal background checks.

13. Major Findings • Number of volunteers, employees and other individuals that would require a fingerprint-based background check. • Based on analysis of a report published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2002, approximately 26 million volunteers would require a fingerprint based background check. • Approximately 30 percent of the volunteers work for more than one agency. • The New Non-Profit Almanac, 2001, reported that 10.9 million paid employees working in charitable, social welfare, or faith-based organizations in 1998.

14. Interim Report • Based on the findings of the feasibility study, the Attorney General shall submit to Congress an Interim Report, which may include recommendations for a pilot project to develop or improve programs to collect fingerprints and perform background checks on individuals that seek to volunteer with organizations that work with children, the elderly or the disabled.

15. Questions? Mr. Allen W. Nash Management Analyst Programs Development Section (304) 625-2738 anash@leo.gov