Flaws in Arizona criminal-background-records system imperil public, study finds

[Ptah]

The criminal-background-check system that Arizona police, gun dealers and employers
rely on is flawed, and fixing it could cost as much as $24 million, according to a new study
by the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission.

The system relies on employees at dozens of agencies around the state to properly enter
and track information. Too often, the study found, the system fails, resulting in missing
criminal records and creating large records gaps that can endanger law-enforcement
officers and the public.

<snip>
Of 44,075 outstanding Arizona felony warrants that should appear in the
National Crime Information Center, a minority of 13,344 are actually there.

The absence of a statewide domestic-violence charge, which is typically charged as
another offense such as assault, makes it difficult for courts to identify domestic-violence
crimes and next to impossible to identify the relationship between the victim and the
defendant. While that relationship information is required in the NICS,
“this information is not captured in any system in Arizona,” the report states.

http://tucsoncitizen.com/arizona-news/2013/03/21/flaws-in-arizona-criminal-background-records-system-imperil-public-study-finds/