State Criminal Justice Technology Coordination and Enhancement Project

The success of criminal justice information technology (IT) projects often depends on strong leadership and coordination at the state level. Without it, projects can become fragmented, as diverging priorities and budget factors may outweigh a more strategic approach that meets state and national needs for information sharing and interoperability. Advancements in technology enable agencies at all levels of government to improve operations and save costs, but the full adoption of national standards and evidence-based practices is essential to realize the full benefits of those advancements. This Training and Technical Assistance (TTA) project will promote the use of evidence-based practices in data sharing, privacy protection, security, and interoperability at the state level through engagement of the State Administering Agency (SAA) community, and foster state leadership and coordination of IT investments that support justice information sharing. The project will not only help improve implementation strategies for information sharing at the local, county, state, and tribal levels, but also maximize the impact of BJA grant funding to those jurisdictions, as well as ensure that national policy efforts are being adequately informed by stakeholders across the justice system. The SAA is an agency within a state and designated by the Governor to have the authority to accept criminal justice funding on behalf of that state. The SAA has a unique role to identify criminal justice issues, coordinate programs, conduct planning activities, develop policy, and support implementation initiatives. The grantee must have demonstrated a past history in the successful ability to work in close partnership with the SAA of each state and territory to inform them of project activities and validate outcomes.

The National Criminal Justice Association purpose of this project will promote the use of evidence based practices for state justice information sharing (JIS) through the leadership of state criminal justice administering agencies; and, Improve implementation of JIS by local, county, state and tribal justice agencies. The goals and objectives of the "State Criminal Justice Technology Coordination and Enhancement Projectare to: conduct twelve (12) webinars or online training sessions for state justice policy makers; Convene six (6) teleconferences of the NCJA State JIS Committee to guide project activities and content for project deliverables; Deliver technical assistance to a minimum of six (6) states to enhance the implementation of evidence based strategies for justice information sharing; Develop a directory of state information technology leaders; Create three (3) case studies of successful implementation of state justice information sharing programs; Create a Policy Maker's Handbook for State Justice Information Sharing examining policy issues affecting the implementation of national standards using Global Information Sharing Toolkit; and Provide briefings for directors of State Criminal Justice Administering Agencies on project activities and products.

CA/NCF