Search Group Incorporated

“The members consist of one representative of each state, the district of columbia, the commonwealth of puerto rico and the u.s. Virgin islands, and eight individuals appointed by the chairperson, known as at-large members.”

“Members each get one vote and elect the board of directors.”

“No committees have the authority to act on behalf of the governing body.”

“The filing of the form 990 is operational so it is reviewed by the director of operations and the executive director, not by the organization's governing body.”

“Upon request and also available on guidestar.org, a website for charity verification.”

“Search's information sharing program (isp) helps state, local, and tribal criminal justice and public safety agencies and organizations develop, operate, secure, and improve information sharing within and between jurisdictions. This assistance is provided through consulting services and other resources in the areas of information sharing systems design and development, technology procurement and implementation, and interoperability. Isp performs four core services: 1) technical assistance (consulting) and training focusing on technology assessments, business process analysis, strategic planning, information sharing planning and governance and automation requirements definition, 2) participation in developing and promoting national information standards through research and publications, 3) developing and implementing information sharing automated solutions that conform to national standards and best practices; and, 4) support for communications interoperability and firstnet. 1. Technical assistance during calendar year 2020, isp provided on-site and in-house technical assistance to local, regional, state, and tribal agencies throughout the nation. These activities addressed a range of topics, including establishing information sharing governance structures, developing strategic plans, assessing technical and operational capabilities, assessing readiness for information sharing, and designing information sharing solutions that conform to national standards and best practices. Search provided assistance to six local jurisdictions, three states, and four national programs or initiatives. 2. Research and publications supporting national criminal justice standards and information sharing: search isp staff participated in meetings and conference calls throughout the year, serving on multiple national criminal justice standards-setting and advisory bodies. Search conducted research on behalf of six national initiatives related to assessing the quality of criminal justice data, recidivism and sentencing practices, and the standardization of criminal history data. 3. Software development and implementation services: following national standards and best practices, search provided information sharing software development and implementation services to six states, one local jurisdiction, and two national programs. 4. Communications interoperability isp staff continued to support national efforts to promote communications interoperability through participation in the firstnet public safety advisory committee (psac) and safecom emergency response council (erc).”

“Search's high-tech crime training services (htcts) program consists of a team of experts who provide technical assistance and training to local, state, and federal justice and public safety agencies nationwide. Through training classes, technical workshops, and hands-on assistance, search trains and assists investigators in methods to prevent, detect, and investigate the rising tide of computer crime, also referred to as e-crime, cybercrime, or high-tech crime. These crimes include fraud, email threats, online stalking, identity theft, phishing, drug trafficking, cyber terrorism, and child exploitation. During fy18, search htcts staff: 1. Trained more than 1,738 law enforcement professionals in 40 classroom and conference workshop settings throughout the nation. The topics included: online investigations: tools, tips and techniques; core skills for the investigation of mobile devices; windows forensic environment for on-scene triage; human trafficking: using the internet to investigate your case; mobile devices: what evidence is available to corroborate your case; searching social media sites for evidence, and more. To ensure that students receive the most up-to-date information and techniques, search staff continuously updates course curricula to include the most recent information and innovations in the field. Staff also maintains the equipment in multiple mobile training laboratories, to ensure that students are working with the latest software and hardware available. 2. Responded to 298 requests for technical assistance from law enforcement throughout the nation. This assistance included identifying the legal contact for various internet service providers (isp), helping extract data from mobile devices, capturing digital evidence from webpages, and advising on digital evidence triage. 3. Produced resources to assist law enforcement personnel with investigations involving digital evidence. This included: -distributing more than 9,047 publications to law enforcement agencies across the nation. -providing access to online training services to more than 295 law enforcement professionals. -maintaining the search investigative toolbar, which provides law enforcement professionals with quick links to a vast network of resources regarding technology-facilitated crime. 4. Continued working on the legal research blog, which provides law enforcement and prosecutors with the ability to research current trends in digital evidence as it relates to case law.”

“National criminal history improvement technical assistance program search's law and policy (l&p) program provides technical assistance to states and federal entities under the national criminal history improvement program (nchip) to enhance and improve criminal history systems and related records. Direct onsite and in-house technical assistance includes supporting states, local jurisdictions, and tribes in: 1) improving the accuracy and completeness of criminal history records to support both criminal justice and noncriminal justice purposes; 2) implementing multiagency and multijurisdictional information exchanges to improve criminal records and to support tactical and strategic decision-making; 3) expanding and enhancing analytical capabilities using existing records management systems and other administrative data sets; and 4) increasing the number of qualifying records submitted to the national instant criminal background check system (nics) index. Search completed 61 short-term, in-house technical assistance projects from july 1, 2019-june 30, 2020. Search staff provided these ta services to 85 individuals in 31 states. Information was provided to 5 federal government agencies, 2 universities, 4 private companies, 3 nonprofit organizations and 3 national membership organizations. Survey of state criminal history information systems approximately every two years since 1989, search, in conjunction with bjs, has conducted and published a national survey of state criminal history repository operations. During the reporting period conducted the fifteenth of these surveys, survey of state criminal history information systems, 2018. Given dramatic advances in information technology, legislative and social trends that increase demand for criminal history record access, and the need for criminal record managers to respond to these developments, bjs and search conducted an in-depth review of the previous survey questions and developed a revised survey instrument for 2018. Search updated formats for easier response and collection of data and also added new questions to collect information on new and emerging information sharing practices. Many of these changes were suggested by users and respondents during the review process. Comments and suggestions focused on: - business process time measurements on arrest and supporting fingerprint records, protection orders, wanted persons, and disposition information that is received and processed by state repositories - flagging misdemeanor domestic violence convictions, active protection orders, and warrants within established criminal history records - technology refreshment of computerized criminal history, automated fingerprint identification, and message switch systems - "cite and release" in lieu of a formal jail booking, the prevalence of citation files, and record counts - repository staffing and funding levels, data quality audits, and record retention periods. Search continues to use an online database system to collect more complete and comprehensive survey data. Features include online, password-protected reporting forms that allow respondents to complete and submit individual sections of the survey, as well as to examine/update previously submitted portions. The survey of state criminal history information systems, 2018 consists of 45 data tables of information and reflects the evolving criminal record management environment. A full copy of the survey is available at: https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/bjs/grants/255651.pdf.”

“The organization's processes for oversight of the audit of its financial statements and selection of an independent accountant have not changed from the previous year.”