Agenda Item Name:
Title
Criminal Justice User Agreement between the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) and Alachua County for the Alachua County Court Services as User
End
Presenter:
Louis Morales, (352) 491-4545
Description:
This document specifies the relationship between the FDLE and the County and specifically Court Services about access to criminal justice data. Every Florida criminal justice agency and county jurisdiction must enter into such agreement with the FDLE.
The agreement outlines the responsibilities of the FDLE to share criminal justice data. It also outlines the responsibilities of the County and the Department of Court Services to abide by when and how such data is accessed and utilized for local criminal justice administration. Access to this data is integral to the operation of Court Services programs and the administration of justice by the County’s criminal justice system.
Recommended Action:
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the BoCC approve the authority of the County Manager to sign the User Agreement.
End
Prior Board Motions:
Approval of the Previous Criminal Justice User Agreement on August 17, 2016
Fiscal Consideration:
Fiscal Consideration
None Applicable
End
Strategic Guide:
Strategic Guide
All Other Mandatory and Discretionary Services
End
Background:
The FDLE operates and regulates the Criminal Justice Network (CJNet) as an interagency information and data sharing network for all Florida criminal justice agencies. FDLE facilitates local law enforcement and other criminal justice agencies’ requests to receive information provided on CJNet. The County’s First Appearance process uses FDLE criminal justice data to make timely and accurate decisions about whether a recently apprehended offender in the Jail needs to be retained, can be released or even diverted to community-based programs. FDLE has the capacity to access the Florida Crime Information Center (FCIC) for data related to crimes, criminals and criminal activity committed, and serves as the Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Systems Agency or CSA. This agreement also provides Court Services and the judicial system with access to criminal justice information through the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), vital to access data on crimes local offenders may have committed outside of the State’s boundaries.
However, the FDLE has altered the agreement in substantive ways, including streamlining its text and clarifying how users such as the County intend to access and use certain services including new tools such as cloud computing. Further, when the User organization has a change in leadership, the execution of a new agreement is required. That is the case with Court Services, however the new agreement also required preparation of the Department’s approach to criminal justice information management and storage in current times as available technology has changed and changes significantly.
Importantly, the agreement as prepared by Court Services staff identifies that the County will be using FDLE’s status as the Florida Lead Agency for Microsoft Cloud Services to manage/store criminal justice information. In this agreement, Court Services has signaled its determination to use Microsoft Azure Government as cloud service provider, to meet the needs of our programs for future data storage and Office 365 for current cloud application needs. No criminal justice information will be based “in the cloud” but storage will be secured in the Department’s own Storage Area Network (SAN). As a related component to this Agreement, the Department has prepared a formal “Cloud Implementation Plan”(attached) to FDLE’s CJIS Division for its approval which has now been granted.