Section 5502.62. Office of criminal justice services - powers and duties

(A) There is hereby created in the department of public safety a division of criminal justice services. The director of public safety, with the concurrence of the governor, shall appoint an executive director of the division of criminal justice services. The executive director shall be the head of the division. The executive director shall serve at the pleasure of the director of public safety. To carry out the duties assigned under this section and to comply with sections 5502.63 to 5502.66 of the Revised Code, the executive director, subject to the direction and control of the director of public safety, may appoint and maintain any necessary staff and may enter into any necessary contracts and other agreements. The executive director of the division, and all professional and technical personnel employed within the division who are not public employees as defined in section 4117.01 of the Revised Code, shall be in the unclassified civil service, and all other persons employed within the division shall be in the classified civil service.

(B) Subject to division (F) of this section and subject to divisions (D) to (F) of section 5120.09 of the Revised Code insofar as those divisions relate to federal criminal justice acts that the governor requires the department of rehabilitation and correction to administer, the division of criminal justice services shall do all of the following:

(1) Serve as the state criminal justice services agency and perform criminal justice system planning in the state, including any planning that is required by any federal law;

(2) Collect, analyze, and correlate information and data concerning the criminal justice system in the state;

(3) Cooperate with and provide technical assistance to state departments, administrative planning districts, metropolitan county criminal justice services agencies, criminal justice coordinating councils, agencies, offices, and departments of the criminal justice system in the state, and other appropriate organizations and persons;

(4) Encourage and assist agencies, offices, and departments of the criminal justice system in the state and other appropriate organizations and persons to solve problems that relate to the duties of the division;

(5) Administer within the state any federal criminal justice acts that the governor requires it to administer;

(6) Administer funds received under the "Family Violence Prevention and Services Act," 98 Stat. 1757 (1984), 42 U.S.C.A. 10401, as amended, with all powers necessary for the adequate administration of those funds, including the authority to establish a family violence prevention and services program;

(7) Implement the state comprehensive plans;

(8) Audit grant activities of agencies, offices, organizations, and persons that are financed in whole or in part by funds granted through the division;

(9) Monitor or evaluate the performance of criminal justice system projects and programs in the state that are financed in whole or in part by funds granted through the division;

(10) Apply for, allocate, disburse, and account for grants that are made available pursuant to federal criminal justice acts, or made available from other federal, state, or private sources, to improve the criminal justice system in the state. All money from such federal grants that require that the money be deposited into an interest-bearing fund or account, that are intended to provide funding to local criminal justice programs, and that require that investment earnings be distributed for program purposes shall be deposited in the state treasury to the credit of the federal justice programs funds, which are hereby created. A separate fund shall be established each federal fiscal year. All investment earnings of a federal justice programs fund shall be credited to that fund and distributed in accordance with the terms of the grant under which the money is received. If the terms under which the money is received do not require the money to be deposited into an interest-bearing fund or account, all money from such federal grants shall be deposited into the state treasury to the credit of the federal justice grants fund, which is hereby created. Money credited to the fund shall be used or distributed pursuant to the federal grant programs under which the money is received.

(11) Contract with federal, state, and local agencies, foundations, corporations, businesses, and persons when necessary to carry out the duties of the division;

(12) Oversee the activities of metropolitan county criminal justice services agencies, administrative planning districts, and criminal justice coordinating councils in the state;

(13) Advise the director of public safety, general assembly, and governor on legislation and other significant matters that pertain to the improvement and reform of criminal and juvenile justice systems in the state;

(14) Prepare and recommend legislation to the director of public safety, general assembly, and governor for the improvement of the criminal and juvenile justice systems in the state;

(15) Assist, advise, and make any reports that are requested or required by the governor, director of public safety, attorney general, or general assembly;

(16) Develop and maintain the Ohio incident-based reporting system in accordance with division (C) of this section;

(17) Subject to the approval of the director of public safety, adopt rules pursuant to Chapter 119. of the Revised Code;

(18)

(a) Not later than June 1, 2007, and subject to the approval of the director of public safety, adopt rules for the establishment and maintenance of a mcgruff house program by any sponsoring agency. The rules shall include the following:

(i) The adoption of the mcgruff house symbol to be used exclusively in all mcgruff house programs in this state;

(ii) The requirements for any sponsoring agency to establish and maintain a mcgruff house program;

(iii) The criteria for the selection of volunteers to participate in a mcgruff house program that shall include, but not be limited to, criminal background checks of those volunteers;

(iv) Any other matters that the division of criminal justice services considers necessary for the establishment and maintenance of mcgruff house programs by sponsoring agencies and the participation of volunteers in those programs.

(b) The division of criminal justice services shall distribute materials and provide technical assistance to any sponsoring agency that establishes and maintains a mcgruff house program, any volunteer group or organization that provides assistance to that sponsoring agency, or any volunteer who participates in a mcgruff house program.

(C) The division of criminal justice services shall develop and maintain the Ohio incident-based reporting system to facilitate the sharing of information with the federal bureau of investigation and participating law enforcement agencies in Ohio. The Ohio incident-based reporting system shall be known as OIBRS. In connection with OIBRS, the division shall do all of the following:

(1) Collect and organize statistical data for reporting to the national incident-based reporting system operated by the federal bureau of investigation for the purpose of securing federal criminal justice grants;

(2) Analyze and highlight mapping data for participating law enforcement agencies;

(3) Distribute data and analyses to participating law enforcement agencies;

(4) Encourage nonparticipating law enforcement agencies to participate in OIBRS by offering demonstrations, training, and technical assistance;

(5) Provide assistance, advice, and reports requested by the governor, the general assembly, or the federal bureau of investigation;

(6) Require every law enforcement agency that receives federal criminal justice grants or state criminal justice information system general revenue funds through the division to participate in OIBRS or in the uniform crime reporting program of the federal bureau of investigation. An agency that submits OIBRS data to the Ohio local law enforcement information sharing network shall be considered to be in compliance with division (C)(6) of this section if both of the following apply:

(a) The Ohio local law enforcement information sharing network is capable of collecting OIBRS data.

(b) The division of criminal justice services has the ability to extract the OIBRS data for reporting to the national incident-based reporting system in the manner required by the federal bureau of investigation.

(D) Upon the request of the director of public safety or governor, the division of criminal justice services may do any of the following:

(1) Collect, analyze, or correlate information and data concerning the juvenile justice system in the state;

(2) Cooperate with and provide technical assistance to state departments, administrative planning districts, metropolitan county criminal justice service agencies, criminal justice coordinating councils, agency offices, and the departments of the juvenile justice system in the state and other appropriate organizations and persons;

(3) Encourage and assist agencies, offices, and departments of the juvenile justice system in the state and other appropriate organizations and persons to solve problems that relate to the duties of the division.

(E) Divisions (B), (C), and (D) of this section do not limit the discretion or authority of the attorney general with respect to crime victim assistance and criminal justice programs.

(F) Nothing in this section is intended to diminish or alter the status of the office of the attorney general as a criminal justice services agency or to diminish or alter the status or discourage the development and use of other law enforcement information systems in Ohio.

Effective Date: 06-30-2005; 04-01-2007; 2006 HB699 12-28-2006; 2007 HB67 07-03-2007