Funding shortage for Nevada's criminal database

Nevada officials told lawmakers Friday that a severe lack of funding is the reason the state can't adequately maintain its database of criminal histories.

Richard Kirkland, director of the Department of Public Safety, said the criminal history repository's problems stem from the fact that the funding comes partially from court fees, which aren't fully collected.

He said the repository is short nearly $800,000 because court assessments came up wanting, leading to a job vacancy rate within the department.

The repository is allowed 61 employees, but the income levels only allow for 50. Kirkland said the staffing shortage leaves 40 percent to 45 percent of the work unfinished.

At the same time, the bureau has no control over the level of the workload, which continues to grow at a rate of 25 percent annually.

"Under the current staffing, there is no way, let me repeat the term, no way, the current staff can make up the backlog," Kirkland told the Assembly Judiciary Committee on Friday.

The backlog to which Kirkland referred was highlighted in a 2002 audit that found that 70,000 criminal fingerprint cards had not been fully processed.

Daryl Riersgard, manager of the Records and Identification Bureau, said that backlog has been reduced to about 7,000 fingerprint cards, but will inevitably go back up without more staffing.

Workload backlogs do not stop at fingerprints, according to the department's report.

The repository currently has backlogs of 110,000 court dispositions and 20,000 domestic violence reports. The repository estimates it would take one worker more than 10 years to complete all the work.

The criminal history repository was created in 1985 to maintain all information on criminals within the state. Police agencies and courts from across the state provide the repository information.

Law enforcement agencies rely on the repository as a source of information when needed, such as searching the history of license plate numbers or fingerprints.

Private companies, such as casinos, also use the repository to perform background checks on employees.

The audit made 14 recommendations for increasing productivity and accuracy within the criminal history repository. The records and identification bureau accepted all recommendations and some have already been accomplished, such as constructing internal audit measures.

Among the audit's other findings:

--The criminal history database contained inaccurate information and some records were missing.

--Adequate password controls, designed to prevent unauthorized access to computer data, hadn't been implemented.

--Access to the computer system wasn't always terminated for ex-employees.

--Access to fingerprints cards was not adequately controlled and increased the risk of losing cards.

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On the Web: http://nvrepository.state.nv.us