2023 SEARCH Winter Meeting: Recap and Photos

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/ February 1, 2023

SEARCH’s 2023 Winter Membership Group Meeting drew nearly 150 attendees from 44 states who participated either on-site at the Hyatt at Olive 8 hotel in downtown Seattle, Washington, or who joined virtually via the Zoom platform.

The Winter Meeting, held January 24–26, featured key sessions and workshops and speakers from state and federal government, national organizations, and private industry. It kicked off on Tuesday, January 24, with a welcome address from Assistant Chief Marc Lamoreaux, Investigative Services Bureau, Washington State Patrol.

As SEARCH’s governing body, the Membership Group meets twice yearly to discuss, analyze and strategize on key policy, operational and technical issues impacting justice information sharing. Federal and state government partners, as well as industry leaders, also attend to share critical information about new programs, services and emerging trends. In turn, they learn about Members’ operational perspectives and the states’ justice information sharing challenges and needs.

The 2023 Winter Meeting Agenda featured the following sessions:

A briefing from on recent legislative activities of the newly convened 118^th Congress, as well as a discussion of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act and supplemental funding to help state record repositories, state courts and tribes find ways to make more eligible records available for firearms background checks.
Briefings from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) on the strategic vision for the Bureau and investments in critical national programs, such as NIBRS, NCHIP and NARIP.
Roundtable sessions during which SEARCH Members shared experiences and information on priority issues and programs in their states, as well as common strategies in leveraging federal grant funding to improve criminal history data quality.
Critical findings from the 2020 Survey of State Criminal History Information Systems, conducted by SEARCH and BJS.
A discussion of the Washington State Patrol’s experiences in completing a replacement of their computerized criminal history system.
Exploring how public-private partnerships can help states investigate crimes with digital evidence.
Continuing issues surrounding implementation of Public Law 92-544 (which empowers the FBI to exchange identification records with state and local governments for licensing and employment purposes).
A status report on the dramatic increase in firearms background checks in recent years and how states meet the demands placed on national systems, such as the NICS.
A look at how the states of Connecticut and Maine have been able to resolve court disposition reporting errors and improve overall criminal history record accuracy and completeness.
Key research findings of SEARCH’s analysis of state rap sheets provided by 43 states.
A discussion of the current status of Clean Slate planning and implementation efforts nationwide, particularly in states where records relief legislation has passed.

SEARCH thanks our Sponsors of the 2023 Winter Membership Group Meeting

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Photos from the 2023 Winter Meeting

SEARCH Chair Jason Bright (MT) welcomes new Missouri Alternate Member, Major Christopher Jolly, during a New Member Orientation Breakfast at the 2023 SEARCH Winter Meeting.

Washington State Patrol Assistant Chief Marc Lamoreaux (far left) welcomes the SEARCH Membership Group to Seattle. He is joined by SEARCH Executive Director David Roberts, Chair Jason Bright (MT), Vice Chair Lisa Voss (DE), and Immediate Past Chair Leslie Moore (KS).

SEARCH Director of Programs Mark Perbix (left) is presented with a retirement plaque by SEARCH Chair Jason Bright (MT) on January 24. Mr. Perbix is retiring in February 2023 after 17 years as SEARCH staff.

Benjamin Bawden, Partner, Brooks Bawden Moore, provides the Government Affairs briefing at the 2023 SEARCH Winter Membership Meeting.

Adam Dean, SEARCH’s New York Member, leads a Membership Roundtable discussion on Day 1 of the 2023 SEARCH Winter Membership Meeting.

Dr. Kevin Scott, Deputy Director, Statistical Operations, Bureau of Justice Statistics, briefs the SEARCH Membership on the Bureau’s strategic vision and current initiatives.

Devon Adams, Deputy Director, Policy Division, Bureau of Justice Statistics, responds to Member questions at the 2023 SEARCH Winter Membership Meeting as she briefs on federal grant funding.

Mark Perbix updates the SEARCH Membership on the activities of the Information Sharing Program as part of the SEARCH Directors briefing. Other directors briefed on the SEARCH Law and Policy Program, Software and Data Engineering Program, and Cybercrime and Digital Forensics Program.

Gary Lac participates in an Industry Briefing at the 2023 SEARCH Winter Meeting on behalf of Platinum Sponsor, NEC Corporation of America.

Meghan Peterson participates in an Industry Briefing at the 2023 SEARCH Winter Meeting on behalf of Platinum Sponsor, IDEMIA Identity & Security USA.

David Bolme participates in an Industry Briefing at the 2023 SEARCH Winter Meeting on behalf of Gold Sponsor, Tailored Solutions Corporation.

Washington State Patrol officials Kristina Davis and Cynthia Kreitzberg provide an update on the Patrol’s experiences in replacing its CCH system.

Officials with the California Department of Justice, Division of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse (from left), Kris Lyle and Julie Basco address how their agency partners with SEARCH to investigate crimes with digital evidence. They were joined at the briefing by Timothy Lott (center), SEARCH Director of Cybercrime and Digital Forensics.

SEARCH Member Jeff Avey (NE) facilitates a session at the 2023 SEARCH Winter Meeting that addressed the implementation of Public Law 92-544. He is joined by SEARCH Member Leila McNeill (ID) and SEARCH Director of Law and Policy Becki Goggins.

JoAnn Garrison with the FBI CJIS Division’s NICS Section provides an overview of national firearms background checks and implementation of the NICS Denial Notification Act.

SEARCH Staff Michael Jacobson discusses key findings of a SEARCH analysis of the contents of state rap sheets. He is flanked by SEARCH Member Leila McNeill (ID) and SEARCH Staff Karen Lissy.

Jeff Wigen of Mission Critical Partners provides an Industry Briefing to the SEARCH Winter Meeting on January 25. Other Silver Sponsors participating in the briefing were representatives of Computer Projects of Illinois, Diverse Computing, Inc., and GCOM Software.

Officials from the Consumer Data Industry Association (from left), Eric Ellman and Jay Harris, listen to a question from an audience member at SEARCH’s 2023 Winter Meeting. They discussed ways to improve the accuracy and quality of private-sector background checks.

Capt. Greg Willmore, a SEARCH Member representing Utah (right), highlights the current status of Clean Slate planning and implementation in his state. He was joined at a Clean Slate panel discussion at the 2023 SEARCH Winter Meeting by (from left) Samuel Sinyangwe of the Clean Slate Initiative and SEARCH Member Michelle Kleckler (MI).

In a session at the 2023 SEARCH Winter Meeting, SEARCH Staff Mark Perbix and Yogesh Chawla explore common performance measures states can implement to monitor criminal history reporting and data quality.

SEARCH Members (from right) Jeff Avey (NE), Brad Cazort (AR), and Dan Foro (At-Large) participate in a discussion at the 2023 SEARCH Winter Meeting.

Devon Adams, Deputy Director of the BJS Policy Division, responds to a question at the 2023 SEARCH Winter Membership Meeting.

SEARCH Member Lynda Lovette (MD) participates in a discussion at the 2023 SEARCH Winter Meeting. She is joined by fellow Members (from left) Ivy McMillan (NC), Ross Sibley (Alternate-CO), and Maj. Rob Simpson (IN)

Listening to a presentation at the 2023 SEARCH Winter Meeting are Members Maj. Larry Newton Jr. (KY), Leila McNeill (ID), and Erin Henry (OK).

SEARCH is governed by a Membership Group that includes one gubernatorial appointee from each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the territories. Members are primarily state-level justice officials responsible for operational decisions and policy on managing criminal justice and criminal history information, and related identification and telecommunications technology. The SEARCH Chair also selects eight At-large Members from government, organizations and academia, to provide a balanced representation of justice disciplines and to bring special expertise and broad perspectives to the Group. The Membership Group typically meets in January and July each year.

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