Wes Hickman (202 224-5972) or Kevin Bishop (864 250-1417)

WASHINGTON- U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) today announced the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) has been awarded a $1,000,000 National Criminal History Improvement Program (NCHIP) grant. The NCHIP assists states to improve the Nation’s public safety by enhancing the quality, completeness, and accessibility of the Nation’s criminal history and sex offender record systems and the extent to which such records can be used and analyzed for criminal justice and authorized non-criminal justice programs. SLED will use these funds for several purposes:

• Contract with the South Carolina Judicial Department to provide access to involuntary mental commitment records to the FBI for National Criminal Intelligence Service background checks;
• Enhance the XML rap sheet capability to allow law enforcement agencies, through the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System, to request a multi-state query for rap sheet information;
• Enhance computerized criminal history to include photo images for all criminal history records;
• Institute a two-digit fingerprint check process for background checks conducted as required under homeland security and a store and forward server at the central repository to forward the civil prints to the FBI;
• Create and interface between the computerized criminal history and National Incident-Based Reporting System databases;
• Upgrade software and equipment to allow for repository data to be accessible to all components; and,
• Participate in NCHIP related training sessions and workshops.

“The ability of law enforcement to share resources is critical,” said Graham. “These funds will help our state law enforcement better protect South Carolinians.” The grant was awarded by the U.S. Department of Justice. ####