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Press Release

Department of Justice and Department of Interior Team Up For Major Expansion of Tribal Access to National Crime Information Databases

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Arizona
Three Arizona Tribes to Participate in the TAP Program in the District of Arizona

     ARIZONA – First Assistant United States Attorney Elizabeth A. Strange joined the Department of Justice and the Department of the Interior in announcing a dramatic expansion of the federal government’s key program that provides tribes with access to national crime information databases, the Justice Department’s Tribal Access Program for National Crime Information (TAP).  The expansion includes the following tribes in Arizona:

  • Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation
  • Hopi Tribe
  • Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community of the Salt River Reservation
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     By the end of 2019, the Justice Department will expand the number of tribes participating in TAP by more than 50 percent, from 47 tribes to 72.  Further, by 2021, the Interior Department’s Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services (BIA-OJS) will expand TAP to all 28 tribes where it delivers direct law enforcement services.  The BIA Division of Human Services will also add two tribal social service locations in New Mexico and Oklahoma in 2019.

     TAP provides federally-recognized tribes the ability to access and exchange data with national crime information databases for both civil and criminal purposes.  This allows tribes to more effectively serve and protect their communities by ensuring the exchange of critical data.  TAP is currently deployed to 47 tribes nationwide with over 220 tribal criminal justice and civil agencies participating.  The program provides integrated workstations and/or software as well as enhanced training and assistance to enable tribes to access and contribute to national crime information databases.

     “The U.S. Attorney’s Office is deeply committed to strengthening public safety in Indian Country,” stated First Assistant United States Attorney Elizabeth A. Strange.  “Through the expansion of the TAP program, participating tribes can use the shared database information to make their communities safer by protecting victims of domestic violence, registering sex offenders, keeping guns out of the hands of known criminals, and helping to locate missing persons.  In addition, law enforcement officers beyond the tribes’ borders -- throughout Arizona -- will benefit from the ability to access information entered by our tribal partners.  We hope that all of our federally-recognized tribes will be able to participate in TAP in the near future as the program continues to expand.”

     “The Fort McDowell Nation is pleased to be a part of the Tribal Access Program (TAP),” said Fort McDowell Nation Vice President Paul Russell. “TAP will allow Fort McDowell to protect and to better serve the public safety needs of our Nation. It will provide the Nation’s Police Department, Prosecutor’s Office, Tribal Courts (Pretrial Services and Probation) and Family Services (CPS and Foster Families) the ability to retrieve appropriate criminal justice information in a timely manner. For instance, with TAP, our Nation’s Police Department will be able to directly enter sex offender information into the National Sex Offender Registry (NSOR). In addition, the Nation’s Tribal Court can now enter its own orders of protection and dispositions into the national database which furthers public safety for victims, the Nation and the general population off the Nation.”

     "The Hopi Tribe is grateful for the opportunity to connect with law enforcement resources through the 2019 Tribal Access Program," said Hopi Tribe Chairman Timothy Nuvangyaoma.  "TAP will enhance safety for our Hopi People and will increase necessary coordination and communication among law enforcement jurisdictions."  

     “We are pleased to be selected as a recipient for the 2019 Tribal Access Program (TAP),” said Salt River President Delbert W. Ray, Sr.  “The TAP program will allow the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community to effectively serve and protect our Community by allowing the exchange of critical data across Criminal Justice Information systems and other national crime information systems. This will be a great resource that will enhance the Salt River Law Enforcement agency.”

     “Access to information is vital to effective law enforcement,” said Trent Shores, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Oklahoma and the Chairman of the Attorney General’s Advisory Subcommittee on Native American Issues.  “The Tribal Access Program will enhance and improve the ability of tribal law enforcement officers to serve their communities. The Native American Issues Subcommittee is proud to support the continued expansion of this tool throughout Indian Country.”

     The Native American Issues Subcommittee (NAIS) is comprised of United States Attorneys with Indian Country in their federal districts; First Assistant U.S. Attorney Strange is an active member of the NAIS.  They advise the Attorney General regarding the development and implementation of policies pertaining to justice in Indian Country. The NAIS identified ‘increased law enforcement resources’ as one of four priority areas to improve justice services in Indian Country. Support for and increased dissemination of the TAP was unanimously supported by the U.S. Attorneys at a recent NAIS meeting in Indian Country in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

     TAP enhances tribal efforts to register sex offenders pursuant to the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA); have orders of protection enforced nationwide; protect children; keep firearms away from persons who are disqualified from receiving them; improve the safety of public housing, and allow tribes to enter their arrests and convictions into national databases.

     TAP supports tribes in analyzing their needs for national crime information and includes appropriate solutions, including a-state-of-the-art biometric/biographic kiosk workstation with capabilities to process finger and palm prints, take mugshots and submit records to national databases.  This includes the ability to access several national databases through the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Systems (CJIS) network, including the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), Next Generation Identification (NGI), National Data Exchange (N-DEx), National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), Law Enforcement Enterprise Portal (LEEP) as well as other national systems such as the International Justice and Public Safety Network (Nlets).

     TAP, which is managed by the Justice Department’s Chief Information Officer with assistance from the Office of Tribal Justice, provides specialized training and assistance for participating tribes, including computer-based training and on-site instruction, as well as a 24x7 Help Desk.  Participating tribes in TAP-FULL receive a kiosk workstation that provide access to national systems as well as training to support whole-of-government needs. Participating tribes in TAP-LIGHT receive software for criminal agencies that include police departments, prosecutors, criminal courts, jails, and probation departments.

 

The following tribes have been selected for the next phase of TAP FULL:

Absentee-Shawnee Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma

Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana

Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation (Washington)

Cheyenne and Arapahoe Tribes, Oklahoma

Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe of the Cheyenne River Reservation, South Dakota

Eastern Shoshone Tribe of the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming

Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, Arizona

Hopi Tribe of Arizona

Lower Elwha Tribal Community (Washington)

Northern Arapahoe Tribe of the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming

Penobscot Nation (Maine)

Quinault Indian Nation (Washington)

Rosebud Sioux Tribe of the Rosebud Indian Reservation, South Dakota

Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community of the Salt River Reservation, Arizona

Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Michigan

The Seminole Nation of Oklahoma

Swinomish Indian Tribal Community (Washington)

Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians of North Dakota

 

The following tribes have been selected for the next phase of TAP LIGHT:

Bishop Paiute Tribe (California)

La Jolla Band of Luiseno Indians, California

Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians of Michigan

Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (Massachusetts)

Morongo Band of Mission Indians, California

Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe (Washington)

San Pasqual Band of the Diegueno Mission Indians of California

 

For the tribes selected by the Department of Justice, TAP is funded by the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART), the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) and the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC).  For the tribes selected by the Department of Interior, TAP is funded by BIA-OJS and BIA Division of Human Services. 

 

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

 

For more information about the Justice Department’s work on tribal justice and public safety issues, visit:  www.justice.gov/tribal

RELEASE NUMBER:              2018-132_ Tribal Access Program (TAP)

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For more information on the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/

Follow the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, on Twitter @USAO_AZ for the latest news.

 

 

Updated October 23, 2018

Topics
Community Outreach
Grants
Indian Country Law and Justice
Press Release Number: 2018-132_ Tribal Access Program (TAP)