Rep. Andrea White announces legislation to modernize Ohio criminal identification reporting

Rep. Andrea White, R-Kettering, announced new legislation that would require Ohio law enforcement and courts to electronically report information related to criminal investigations and disposition reports.

White said that the bill would improve the availability and accuracy of information involved in background checks, while also improving public safety.

“We are here today united around a common goal, and that is legislation that is going to strengthen and modernize Ohio’s criminal identification system, the highway on which all of our background checks for jobs, professional licenses, criminal investigations, and firearms purchases run,” White said during a Feb. 5 press conference.  “Above all, this bill is about public safety and jobs.”

The congresswoman said that the bill will specifically require technology updates to allow courts and law enforcement agencies to electronically report information to the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation within 24 hours.

The bill will also require the use of LiveScan devices, inkless electronic devices that provide instant images of prints to criminal identification systems.

The press conference featured Attorney General Dave Yost and the Senior Director of Law Enforcement Operations for the Attorney General’s Office, Doug Dumolt, Olivia Parkinson and Branden C. Meyer from the Ohio Clerk of Courts Association, and Independence Police Chief Robert Butler as speakers.

Yost said that Ohio courts currently have disposition data for around 71% of arrests and charges. He said that having access to information about the final outcomes of cases affects background checks.

“If you had a criminal interaction that did not result in a conviction, that shouldn’t keep you from getting a job or being able to buy a firearm for your family’s protection,” Yost said.

Roberts, who is also the president of the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police, said that electronic reporting will provide important information to law enforcement officers.

“This bill, to me and to everyone else in law enforcement, is about safety, getting necessary information in our hands,” Roberts said. “By requiring electronic reporting of the incident, the incident tracking numbers, also known as ITN, we link the arrest to a disposition, giving us very valuable information while we’re making split -second decisions on the side of the road during an incident.”

Dumolt said that the attorney general’s office has $3 million in grants available to fund the implementation of electronic reporting systems for courts that cannot afford to do so.

“We have not denied a single application that I know of for that, and we’ve got almost every single court that has asked to do that online, and we still have funds left,” said Dumolt. “The $3 million would be more than enough to do that for the entire state of Ohio, and it’s a one-time cost.”

He also said that while the attorney general’s office does not currently have enough funds to buy LiveScan devices for every law enforcement agency in the state, there is enough left for every county to have the devices available.