Task force report: state crime record keeping needs help

A comprehensive plan designed to bring Mississippi's criminal history records into national compliance is now under consideration by state law enforcement officers.

"Blueprint for the Improvement of Criminal History Records in Mississippi" is the final report of a statewide audit of criminal justice agencies' records conducted earlier this year by the Social Science Research Center at Mississippi State University. The report was commissioned by the Department of Public Safety, the state's top law enforcement agency.

"The objective of the study was to determine the extent to which criminal history records were accurate and complete," said Dr. Melvin C. Ray, coordinator of the center's Mississippi Crime and Justice Research Unit and one of the report's authors.

Ray, also an associate professor of sociology, is one of 21 task force members. The group is co-chaired by Chief Walter Tucker of the Capitol Police Department and Adams County Sheriff William T. Ferrell.

Ray said the audit discovered a number of major deficiencies, among them that:

Criminal history records data are "severely underreported" to the Department of Public Safety's Criminal Records Division.
Overall among law enforcement agencies studied, the two areas that tend to be most underreported are arrests and final dispositions.
Municipal and county law enforcement agencies' records are usually not submitted because of insufficient personnel--and because the agencies are not aware of the CRD's role.

"A modern data communication network is the key to gaining remote access to automated records," Ray said. The modern link, he added, is needed to replace an aging system that was installed among more than 200 selected locations more than a decade ago. "The current network was adequate in its day but now is outdated."

Because of the lack of modern equipment, Ray said law enforcement officers can be placed in unnecessary, life-threatening situations. As an example, he pointed to the potential for long delays when an officer is performing a vehicle license check.

"In a larger sense," Ray said, "all Mississippians are being placed at risk of criminal victimization by the absence of a state-level, computerized records system. Background checks of applicants for jobs involving the supervision of children, for gaming industry positions, or for many other employment areas are virtually impossible with the system we now have," he said.

Ray said the task force's report calls on local and state officials to "seriously commit" to improving the quality of criminal history record keeping and sharing. In all, the body made 16 recommendations.

"These recommendations, if adopted, will lead to the creation of a computerized criminal history data base and an automated fingerprint identification system," he said. "Mississippi would then be in compliance with national standards and could become a part of what, in law enforcement circles, is known as the Interstate Identification Index."