Major Information Systems - Justice Automated Command Center System

TITLE: Justice Automated Command Center System

ACRONYM: JACCS

ORIGINATOR:

PURPOSE: The system provides office automation for the Justice Command Center which serves as the crisis center for the Department of Justice.

AGENCY PROGRAM: The mission of the United States Department of Justice is to enforce the law and defend the interests of the U.S. according to the law, provide Federal leadership in preventing and controlling crime, seek just punishment for those guilty of unlawful behavior, administer and enforce the Nation's immigration laws fairly and effectively and ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans. JACCS is a tool to support the Justice Department's mission by serving as support to the Justice Department's Crisis Center.

RESPONSIBLE OFFICE FOR DISTRIBUTING INFORMATION (if different from originator):

ORDER PROCESS: In order to protect your privacy, whenever you request information about yourself you will be asked to provide either a notarized statement or a statement signed under penalty of perjury stating that you are the person that you claim to be. You may fulfill this requirement by: (1) completing and signing Form DOJ-361, (2) having your signature on your request letter witnessed by a notary, or (3) including the following statement just before the signature on your request letter: "I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed on [date]." If you request information about yourself and do not follow one of these procedures, your request cannot be processed. This requirement helps to ensure that private information about you will not be disclosed to anyone else.

Files relating to another person regarding a matter which would invade that person's privacy ordinarily will not be disclosed. For example, if you seek information that would show that someone else (including even your spouse or another member of your immediate family) has ever been the subject of a criminal investigation--or even was mentioned in a criminal file--you will be requested to provide either: (1) a statement by that other person authorizing the release of the information to you which has been signed by that person and either was witnessed by a notary or includes a declaration made under penalty of perjury (using the language quoted in the preceding paragraph), or (2) evidence that the subject of your request is deceased, such as a death certificate, a newspaper obituary, or some comparable proof of death. Without proof of death or the subject's consent, in almost all cases components of the Justice Department will respond to a request made for information concerning another person's role in a law enforcement matter by advising the requester that it will "neither confirm nor deny" the existence of responsive records. Such law enforcement information about a living person is released without that person's consent only when no privacy interest would be invaded by disclosing the information, when the information is already public or required to be made public, or when there is such a strong public interest in the disclosure that it overrides the individual's privacy interest.

In making your request you should be as specific as possible with regard to names, dates, places, events, subjects, etc. If known, you should include any file designations or descriptions for the records that you want. You do not have to give a requested record's name or title, but the more specific you are about the records or types of records that you want, the more likely it will be that the Justice Department will be able to locate those records.

There is no initial fee to file a FOIA request and, in the majority of requests made to the Justice Department, no fees are ever charged. By law, however, an agency is entitled to charge certain fees, which depend on the category of requester you fall into.

For the purposes of fees only, the FOIA divides requesters into three categories. Commercial requesters may be charged fees for searching for records, processing the records, and photocopying them. On the other hand, educational or noncommercial scientific institutions and representatives of the news media are charged only for photocopying expenses, after the first 100 pages of copies. Requesters who do not fall into either of these two categories are not charged for processing, only for searches and photocopying, and there is no charge for the first two hours of search time or for the first 100 pages of photocopies. The Justice Department currently charges 10 cents per page for photocopying. In all cases, if the total fee does not exceed a minimum amount, currently $8.00, the Justice Department will not charge any fee at all.

You may always include in your request letter a specific statement limiting the amount that you are willing to pay in fees. If you do not do so, the Justice Department will assume that you are willing to pay fees of up to $25. If a component estimates that the total fees for processing your request will exceed $25, it will notify you in writing of the estimate and offer you an opportunity to narrow your request in order to reduce the fees. If you continue to want all of the records involved you will be asked to express your commitment to pay the estimated fees and the processing of your request will be suspended until you agree to do so. You ordinarily will not be required to actually pay the fees until the records have been processed and are ready to be sent to you. If, however, you have failed to pay fees within 30 days of billing in the past, or if the estimated fees exceed $250, you may be required to pay the estimated fees in advance. If you agree to pay fees and then fail to do so within 30 days of billing, you may be charged interest on your overdue balance and the Justice Department will not process any further requests from you until payment has been made in full. If you agree to pay fees for searching for records, be aware that you may be required to pay such fees even if the search does not locate any responsive records or, if records are located, they are withheld as entirely exempt.

Request for information must be submitted in writing to U.S. Department of Justice, Justice Management Division, Executive Secretariat, 950 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Room 1110, Washington, DC 20530-0001.

OFFICE OF CONTACT FOR FURTHER INFORMATION (if different from originator):

DATE OF LAST MODIFICATION: 9/2008