The Department of Justice has announced the opening of the application period for federally recognized Tribes and intertribal consortia to join the Tribal Access Program (TAP) for National Crime Information. TAP enhances public safety by enabling these Tribes to access and exchange data with national crime information databases, including the FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC).
“This program allows our tribal partners to access, enter, and obtain information from the National Criminal Information Center,” said U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson. “Access to this database will further support investigations and collaboration between tribal, federal, local, and state law enforcement.”
Suzanne Drywater, Senior Director of Justice Services for the Cherokee Nation, highlighted TAP’s impact: “As a TAP Pilot Tribe, the Cherokee Nation has been participating in TAP for many years. From sex offender registrations, law enforcement, foster home certification, human resources, and child support, our tribe has been able to exercise our sovereignty, and TAP has proven to be an invaluable resource that we use daily in a multitude of ways.”
Currently, 149 federally recognized Tribes are part of TAP, including seven tribes within the Northern District of Oklahoma. The program provides software, hardware, training, a web-based application, and biometric/biographic kiosk workstations for processing fingerprints and submitting information to FBI Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) systems.
Tribes using TAP have shared information about missing persons; entered domestic violence orders of protection; registered convicted sex offenders; run criminal histories; located 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 Department will accept applications from July 9 to August 29. Selected Tribes will be notified in September. Informational webinars describing the program will be conducted throughout July and August. For more details on TAP and webinar schedules, visit www.justice.gov/tribal/tribal-access-program-tap.
TAP is funded by several offices including the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking; Office of Community Oriented Policing Services; Office for Victims of Crime; and Office on Violence Against Women. It is co-managed by the department’s Office of the Chief Information Officer and Office of Tribal Justice.
