Fort Belknap Indian Community selected to join program accessing national crime information

From U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana

The Department of Justice has selected an additional 12 federally recognized tribes including Fort Belknap Indian Community in Montana to participate in the expansion of the Tribal Access Program for National Crime Information — TAP — a program that provides tribal governments with means to access, enter, and exchange data with national crime information systems, including those maintained by the FBI Criminal Justice Information Services Division and the states.

The Chippewa Cree Tribe of Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation, the Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation and the Assiniboine and Sioux tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation were previously added to the tribes with access.

The Northern Cheyenne Tribe is a Tribe Served By Agency in the program, allowing Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Justice Services law enforcement personnel access to the information service.

The application period for this recent round of selections opened July 1, and closed Aug. 31.

“Timely access to federal criminal information can help protect domestic violence victims, place foster children in safe conditions, solve crimes, and apprehend fugitives on tribal land, among other important uses,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco. “Increasing tribal access to criminal databases is a priority of the Justice Department and this Administration, and essential to many tribal government efforts to strengthen public safety in their communities.”

“We are pleased that the Fort Belknap Indian Community has been selected for expansion of the Tribal Access Program,” Acting U.S.  Attorney Leif M. Johnson said. “This program will allow the Fort Belknap tribes to enter and share information about missing persons into the national missing persons database and to enter and exchange various other information with law enforcement across the country to help make the community safer.”

The program provides training as well as software and biometric/biographic kiosk workstations to process fingerprints, take mugshots, and submit information to FBI Criminal Justice Information Services systems. With these additional tribes, 108 federally recognized Tribes now are participating in TAP.

TAP has been an important resource for the department’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Initiative and the Presidential Task Force on Missing and Murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives known as Operation Lady Justice.  The Department of Justice began TAP in 2015 in response to concerns raised by tribal leaders about the need to have direct access to federal systems.

Using TAP, tribes have shared information about missing persons; registered convicted sex offenders; entered domestic violence orders of protection for nationwide enforcement; run criminal histories; identified and arrested fugitives; entered bookings and convictions; and completed fingerprint-based record checks for non-criminal justice purposes such as screening employees or volunteers who work with children. 

The othhr tribes newly selected for participation in TAP are:

• Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation

• Cow Creek Band of Umpqua

• Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa

• Havasupai Tribe

• Lower Brule Sioux Tribe

• Menominee Tribe

• Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe

• Muckleshoot Tribe

• Passamaquoddy Tribe

• Shingle Springs Band of Miwok

• United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee

TAP is managed by the Justice Department’s Office of the Chief Information Officer and the Office of Tribal Justice.  It is funded by the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking), the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, the Office for Victims of Crime, and the Office on Violence Against Women.

For more information on TAP, people can visit http://www.justice.gov/tribal/tribal-access-program-tap .