Report 2013-103 Recommendation 23 Responses

Report 2013-103: Armed Persons With Mental Illness: Insufficient Outreach From the Department of Justice and Poor Reporting From Superior Courts Limit the Identification of Armed Persons With Mental Illness (Release Date: October 2013)

Recommendation #23 To: Justice, Department of

To reduce the risk that it may not identify an armed prohibited person, Justice should revise its electronic matching process to use all personal identifying numbers available in its databases.

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From November 2019

As part of the implementation of Senate Bill 1235 (2016) and Proposition 63 (2016), the Department implemented a system enhancement of the Armed and Prohibited Persons System (APPS) database to add matching criteria to include Military ID and FBI number from the following systems: Automated Criminal History System, Wanted Persons System, California Restraining and Protective Order System, and the Mental Health Firearms Prohibition System. Effective July 1, 2019, APPS has matched firearm prohibiting triggering events to records identified with Military ID numbers and FBI numbers. The Department is matching on all valid identifying numbers available.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Fully Implemented

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2018

With the passage of Senate Bill 1235 (2016) and Proposition 63 (2016), the Department will be conducting system enhancements to the Armed Prohibited Persons System (APPS) database necessary to implement this legislation. These enhancements will include the APPS ability to match all different identification (ID) types such as Military ID and FBI number with the following systems: Automated Criminal History System, Wanted Persons System, California Restraining and Protective Order System, and the Mental Health Firearms Prohibition System. This will increase the odds of matching a prohibiting event to a subject in APPS. The Department is mandated to implement Senate Bill 1235/Proposition 63 by July 1, 2019. Additional enhancements to the APPS database will be ongoing to ensure continued improvements in efficiency and accuracy as necessary.

In the interim, to reduce the risk of misidentification, the Department is fulfilling the objectives of this recommendation through a manual procedure that maximizes the analysts' ability to identify armed prohibited persons by conducting background checks utilizing all identifying numbers.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From November 2017

With the passage of Senate Bill 1235 (2016) and Proposition 63 (2016), the Department will be conducting system enhancements to the Armed Prohibited Persons System (APPS) database necessary to implement this legislation. The Department is mandated to implement Senate Bill 1235/Proposition 63 by July 1, 2019. The enhancements necessary to Fully Implement this recommendation are part of the system enhancement to implement Senate Bill 1235/Proposition 63.

In the interim, the Department is fulfilling the objectives of this recommendation through a manual procedure that maximizes the analysts' ability to identify armed prohibited persons by conducting background checks utilizing all identifying numbers

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Pending

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2016

The Department will implement the system enhancements to the APPS database necessary to incorporate the inclusion and review of all personal identifying information (e.g., social security numbers, military identification, out of state driver's license numbers) into the APPS electronic review process. This system upgrade will occur as soon as our information technology professionals complete a variety of statutorily mandated improvements and maintenance for firearms-related data base systems. In the interim, the Department is fulfilling the objectives of this recommendation through a manual procedure that maximizes the analysts' ability to identify armed prohibited persons by conducting background checks utilizing all identifying numbers.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Not Fully Implemented

Annual Follow-Up Agency Response From October 2015

The Department is pursuing the system enhancements to the APPS database necessary to incorporate the inclusion and review of all personal identifying information (e.g., social security numbers, military identification, out of state driver's license numbers) into the APPS electronic review process. The Department submitted a management change request to the Department's Hawkins Data Center (HDC) on August 21, 2013, requesting the needed system enhancements. The information technology team assigned to complete these enhancements is also responsible for maintaining several firearms-related data base systems, as well as developing system enhancements necessary to implement recently enacted state laws. After the Department successfully complies with these statutory mandates, the HDC will immediately initiate our requested APPS enhancements. However, once the enhancements are initiated, they will take approximately six months to complete. In the interim, the Department has developed a manual procedure to maximize the analysts' ability to identify armed prohibited persons by conducting background checks utilizing all identifying numbers.

California State Auditor's Assessment of Annual Follow-Up Status: Not Fully Implemented

1-Year Agency Response

The Department is pursuing system enhancements to the APPS database to incorporate the inclusion and review of all personal identifying information (e.g., social security numbers, military identification, out of state driver's license numbers) into the APPS electronic review process. The Department submitted a request for the system enhancement to the Department's Hawkins Data Center (HDC) on August 21, 2013. The information technology team assigned to complete the enhancements is responsible for maintaining several firearms-related data base systems, as well as developing and implementing system enhancements required as a result chaptered legislation. Since legislatively mandated system enhancements take precedence over other projects, it is hard to determine when HDC will initiate our requested APPS enhancements. However, once the enhancements are initiated, they will take approximately six months to complete. In the interim, the Department has developed a manual procedure to maximize the analysts' ability to identify armed prohibited persons by conducting background checks utilizing all identifying numbers.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Partially Implemented

Justice acknowledges in its response that the system enhancements necessary to implement our recommendation are not yet completed. The manual procedure that Justice describes its analysts perform utilizing all identifying numbers is a procedure performed after Justice's electronic matching process is already completed. Therefore, it will not address our original concern that not all personal identifying numbers were part of the matching process. We continue to assess this recommendation as partially implemented.

6-Month Agency Response

The Department is pursuing system enhancements to the APPS database as needed to incorporate the inclusion and review of all personal identifying information (e.g., social security numbers, military identification, out of state drivers license numbers) into the APPS electronic review process. The Department submitted a management change request to the Departments Hawkins Data Center (HDC) on August 21, 2013, requesting the needed system enhancement.

The information technology team assigned to complete these enhancements is also responsible maintaining several firearms-related data systems as well as developing and implementing system enhancements needed to implement recently passed legislation which required priority implementation. HDC has committed to begin work on the needed system enhancements by September 2014 and will take approximately six months to complete.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 6-Month Status: Partially Implemented

60-Day Agency Response

The Department is pursuing system enhancements to the APPS database as needed to incorporate the inclusion and review of all personal identifying information (e.g., social security numbers, military identification, out of state driver's license numbers) into the APPS electronic review process. AC Buford submitted a management change request to the Department's Hawkins Data Center (HDC) on August 21, 2013, requesting the needed system enhancement. HDC has committed to begin work on the needed system enhancements by September 2014.

California State Auditor's Assessment of 60-Day Status: Partially Implemented

All Recommendations in 2013-103

Agency responses received are posted verbatim.