The Department of Justice has selected an additional 30 Indian tribes – including the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe – to participate in the expansion of the Tribal Access Program for National Crime Information (TAP), a program that provides federally recognized tribes the ability to access and exchange data with national crime information databases for both criminal and non-criminal justice purposes.
“The Tribal Access Program is strengthening tribal governance and public safety in tribal communities across the United States,” said Attorney General William P. Barr. “TAP provides law enforcement and tribal governments real-time access to data that can help locate a missing person, identify a dangerous fugitive or prevent a domestic abuser from obtaining a gun, among many other important functions. The Trump administration is committed to fixing these public safety gaps and serving victims in Indian country. I believe the expansion of this law enforcement tool will prove to be critical in achieving those goals.”
“Information sharing and communication is key to community safety not only in our Tribal communities but throughout our district as a whole,” said U.S. Attorney Brian T. Moran. “The further expansion of TAP to our tribal law enforcement partners recognizes our shared priority of reducing violent crime in Western Washington.”
TAP is deployed to more than 75 tribes throughout the country with more than 300 participating tribal justice agencies, including nine in the Western District of Washington. The program provides software to enable tribes to access national crime information databases and/or a kiosk-workstation that provides the ability to submit and query fingerprint-based transactions via FBI Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Next Generation Identification (NGI) System.
This fifth expansion of TAP is part of the Justice Department’s continuing focus on public safety in American Indian and Alaska Native communities, allowing tribes to more effectively serve and protect their communities by ensuring the exchange of critical data with federal and state databases.
On Nov. 22, Attorney General Barr launched a national strategy to address the issues surrounding missing and murdered Native Americans, and TAP provides the ability for participating tribes to exchange data with FBI CJIS, including data on missing persons from the National Crime Information Center (NCIC).
In October, the Justice Department announced an unprecedented $273 million in grants to improve public safety, serve victims of crime, combat violence against women, and support youth programs in American Indian and Alaska Native communities.
For more information on TAP, visit justice.gov/tribal/tribal-access-program-tap.
