Justice Department Tribal Access Program Will Continue to Improve the Exchange of Critical Data

The Justice Department has selected 14 federally recognized Tribes to participate in the continued expansion of the Tribal Access Program for National Crime Information (TAP), a program that provides Tribal governments with means to access, enter, and exchange data with national crime information systems, including those maintained by the FBI Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division. This announcement follows Attorney General Merrick B. Garland’s trip to Alaska last month, during which he visited Anchorage and the village of Galena. Attorney General Garland met with Tribal leaders and advocates to discuss the public safety challenges that Alaska Native individuals and communities face.

“Meeting the most urgent public safety challenges in Tribal communities requires strengthening cooperation and collaboration between Tribal and federal law enforcement,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “This latest expansion of access to national crime databases will empower Tribal governments with better tools and technology and will help make Tribal communities and communities across the country safer.”

The program provides training as well as software and biometric/biographic kiosk workstations to process fingerprints, take mugshots, and submit information to CJIS systems. With these additional Tribes, there are now 132 federally recognized Tribes participating in TAP.

The Justice Department began TAP in 2015 in response to concerns raised by Tribal leaders about the need to have direct access to federal systems. Using TAP, Tribes have shared information about missing persons; registered convicted sex offenders; entered domestic violence orders of protection for nationwide enforcement; run criminal histories; identified and arrested fugitives; entered bookings and convictions; and completed fingerprint-based record checks for non-criminal justice purposes such as screening employees or volunteers who work with children.

The following Tribes have been selected for participation in TAP:

1. Pauma Band of Luiseno Mission Indians
2. Chickaloon Native Village
3. Nez Perce Tribe
4. Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe
5. Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians
6. Quechan Tribe
7. Pueblo of Isleta
8. Pala Band of Mission Indians
9. Lovelock Paiute Tribe
10. Tonto Apache Tribe
11. Bois Forte Band of Chippewa
12. Yakutat Tlingit Tribe
13. Ho-Chunk Nation
14. Comanche Nation

TAP is managed by the Justice Department’s Office of the Chief Information Officer and the Office of Tribal Justice. It is funded by the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART), the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), and the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW).

For more information on TAP, visit www.justice.gov/tribal/tribal-access-program-tap.