The Justice Department recently selected six federally recognized tribes to participate in the Tribal Access Program (TAP) for National Crime Information.
TAP provides training, the means to access and exchange data with national crime information systems, and software and biometric/biographic kiosk workstations to process fingerprints, take mugshots and submit information to FBI Criminal Justice Information Services systems.
In addition, police have the ability to enter domestic violence orders of protection for nationwide enforcement, register convicted sex offenders, enter orders that prevent dangerous prohibited persons from obtaining firearms, and share information about missing persons.
“The Tribal Access Program gives Tribal law enforcement real-time access to crime data, arming them with the information necessary to identify criminals, track down predators, and deliver justice for victims,” Todd Blanche, deputy attorney general, said. “The Department stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Tribal officers to restore law and order to Indian Country, and those who target the vulnerable in Tribal communities will be found, prosecuted, and held accountable.”
The tribes new to TAP are the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas, the Cayuga Nation (New York), the Duckwater Shoshone Tribe, the Pueblo of Zia, the Seneca-Cayuga Nation (Oklahoma), and the Southern Ute Indian Tribe.
TAP now supports 154 tribes and more than 460 tribal government agencies.
“TAP has been very helpful in our process for hiring Tribal Police Officers,” said Pueblo of Santa Clara Chief of Police Mitchell Maestas. “We have utilized its ability for fingerprint submissions and the results are provided very quickly. This is a tremendous help in completing the applications and getting them sent off and accurately returned in minutes instead of waiting for days or weeks for a return.”