[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 4 (Thursday, January 6, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1264-1266]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-291]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Indian Affairs


Privacy Act of 1974, as Amended; Amendment of an Existing System 
of Records

AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior.

ACTION: Proposed amendment of an existing system of records.

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SUMMARY: Under the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended (5 U.S.C. 552a), the 
Office of the Secretary is issuing public notice of our intent to 
change an existing Privacy Act system of records notice entitled, 
Interior BIA-18 ``Law

[[Page 1265]]

Enforcement Services.'' The revisions will change the name of the 
system to Interior BIA-18, ``Case Incident Reporting System.'' Other 
changes to Interior BIA-18 include updating data in the following 
fields: System Locations, Categories of Individuals Covered by the 
System, Categories of Records in the System, Routine Uses of Records 
Maintained in the System, Categories of Users and the Purposes of Such 
Uses, Policies and Practices for Storing, Retrieving, Accessing, 
Retaining and Disposing of Records in the System.
    The Department of the Interior is issuing public notice of its 
intent to amend portions of an existing Privacy Act system of records 
subject to the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a). This action is 
necessary to meet the requirements of the Privacy Act to publish in the 
Federal Register notice amendment of an existing records systems 
maintained by the agency (5 U.S.C. 552a(e)(4)).

EFFECTIVE DATE: 5 U.S.C. 552a(e)(11) requires that the public be 
provided a 30-day period in which to comment on the agency's intended 
use of the information in the system of records. The Office of 
Management and Budget, in its Circular A-130, requires an additional 
10-day period (for a total of 40 days) in which to make these comments. 
Any persons interested in commenting on this proposed amendment may do 
so by submitting comments in writing to the Privacy Act Officer, Bureau 
of Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior, P.O. Box 247, 
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87103. Comments received within 40 days of 
publication in the Federal Register will be considered. The system will 
be effective as proposed at the end of the comment period unless 
comments are received which would require a contrary determination. The 
Department will publish a revised notice if changes are made based upon 
a review of comments received.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Deputy Bureau Director, Bureau of 
Indian Affairs (BIA), Office of Law Enforcement Services (OLES), 
Washington, DC at (202) 208-5787.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The intent of amending this system notice is 
to accomplish the mission of the BIA, OLES to better clarify previous 
language, to address administrative changes, and to address the current 
needs of the agency. The following changes are being proposed to BIA-
18: The system location will be changed to reflect an agency 
reorganization and re-alignment. The name of the system will be changed 
to more accurately define the information that is contained in the 
records of this system. The categories of individuals covered by the 
system will be amended to address both criminal and non-criminal 
records that the agency collects to perform our law enforcement 
responsibilities. The categories of records in the system will be 
amended to be a more complete listing of the information located in our 
records. The primary purposes of the system will be updated to meet new 
reporting requirements.
    Purposes have also been added that we believe will allow greater 
access to individuals who need BIA, OLES reports to adjudicate a claim 
for a loss. The following ``Routine Uses'' have been changed in order 
to satisfy the purpose of the system, and to allow greater access to 
records that are needed by citizens who are served by BIA, OLES 
programs.
    In Routine Use (3), we have added the word ``written''. The Routine 
Use will now read: ``To a congressional office in response to a written 
inquiry an individual covered by the system has made to the 
congressional office about him or herself.''
    Routine Use (4) we have changed to read: ``to Federal, State, 
local, or tribal agencies or contractors where necessary and relevant 
to the hiring, retention, removal, or processing of a personnel action 
of an employee or the issuance of a security clearance, contract, 
license, grant or other benefit.'' We added this section to benefit our 
tribal contract programs that request an Internal Affairs Investigation 
to take place when a personnel action is required. Routine Use (6) was 
deleted and subsequent routine uses were renumbered accordingly. 
Routine Use (6) was deleted because it stated that records could be 
disclosed to a guardian or guardian ad litem of a child named in the 
report without differentiating sensitive investigations with material 
that should be withheld to protect the privacy interest of parties 
identified in the report. The Privacy Act allows a legal guardian to 
act on behalf of an individual minor child.
    New Routine uses were added to address the recent increase in 
requests for BIA, OLES reports.
    Routine Use (8) says that disclosures outside the Department ``for 
the purpose of providing information on traffic accidents, personal 
injuries, or the loss or damage of property may be made to: (a) 
Individuals involved in such incidents; (b) persons injured in such 
incidents; (c) owners of property damaged, lost or stolen in such 
incidents; and/or (d) these individuals' duly verified insurance 
companies, personal representatives, and/or attorneys. The release of 
information under these circumstances should only occur when it will 
not: (a) interfere with ongoing law enforcement proceedings, (b) risk 
the health or safety of an individual, or (c) reveal the identity of an 
informant or witness that has received an explicit assurance of 
confidentiality. Social security numbers should not be released under 
these circumstances unless the social security number belongs to the 
individual requester.'' The intent of this use is to facilitate 
information flow to parties who need the information to adjudicate a 
claim.
    Routine Use (9) ``to Federal, State, local, tribal organizations 
and contractors for the purpose of incident cause identification and to 
formulate incident prevention programs for improvement of public 
safety.'' The intent of this routine use is to allow tribal governments 
the opportunity to develop strategic plans that will address the public 
safety issues within their respective jurisdiction.
    Routine Use (10) ``to Federal, State, local, and tribal 
organizations responsible for the formulation of statistical reports 
necessary for the continued operation of the program.'' This routine 
use was added to address the need for complete and accurate crime data 
that is necessary to respond to the Government, Performance, and 
Results Act.
    Routine use (11) ``to tribal governments when necessary and 
relevant to the assumption of a program under Public Law 93-638, the 
Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, 25 U.S.C. 450 
et seq.'' The intent of this routine use is to allow the BIA to 
transfer files when a tribal government assumes a law enforcement 
program under the authority of a Public Law 93-638 contract.

    Dated: January 3, 2005.
Michael D. Olsen,
Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs.
INTERIOR/BIA-18

System name:
    Case Incident Reporting System.

System location:
    (1) All District, Agency, and Field Offices of the Bureau of Indian 
Affairs (BIA), Office of Law Enforcement Services (OLES); (2) BIA, 
OLES, 1849 C Street, NW., MIB, Washington, DC 20240. (For a listing of 
specific locations, contact the Systems Manager.)

[[Page 1266]]

Categories of individuals covered by the system:
    Individual complainants in criminal cases, individuals investigated 
or arrested for criminal or traffic offenses, or certain types of non-
criminal incidents, or any person involved in or witnessing incidents 
requiring the attention of BIA, OLES.

Categories of records in the system:
    The files include accident reports and incident reports which may 
contain any of the following: Name, address, social security number, 
date of birth, telephone numbers, and other personal identifiers; date 
and case numbers; related correspondence; fingerprint information; 
vehicle description and license data; passenger data; insurance data; 
emergency contact information; law enforcement officers' names; agency 
identifiers; sketches and/or photographs; hospital and other medical 
records.

Authority for Maintenance of the System:
    25 U.S.C. 1, 1a, 13; 18 U.S.C. 3055; Act of May 10, 1939, 58 Stat. 
693; 53 Stat. 520.

Routine uses of records maintained in the system, including categories 
of users and purposes of such uses:
    The primary uses of the records are: (1) To identify incidents in 
which individuals were involved, (2) to retrieve the report for 
information for the individual involved, such as accident reports and 
reports of damaged, lost or stolen property, (3) as a basis for 
criminal investigations conducted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 
Office of Law Enforcement Services, (4) to assist Federal, State, 
tribal, and local law enforcement agencies working in areas contiguous 
to areas under the jurisdiction of the BIA, (5) for the purpose of 
accident cause identification and to formulate accident prevention 
programs for improvement in traffic patterns, and (6) to formulate 
statistical reports necessary for the continued operation of the 
program.

Disclosures outside the Department of the Interior may be made:
    (1) To the U.S. Department of Justice when related to litigation or 
anticipated litigation;
    (2) Of information indicating a violation or potential violation of 
a statute, regulation, rule, order or license, to appropriate Federal, 
State, local, foreign, or tribal agencies responsible for investigating 
or prosecuting the violation or for enforcing or implementing the 
statute, rule, regulation, order, or license;
    (3) To a congressional office in response to a written inquiry an 
individual covered by the system has made to the congressional office 
about him or herself;
    (4) To Federal, State, local, or tribal agencies or contractors 
where necessary and relevant to the hiring, retention, removal, or 
processing of a personnel action of an employee or the issuance of a 
security clearance, contract, license, grant, or other benefit;
    (5) To Federal, State, local, or tribal governmental officials 
responsible for administering child protective services in carrying out 
his or her official duties;
    (6) To agencies authorized to care for, treat, or supervise abused 
or neglected children whose policies also require confidential 
treatment of information;
    (7) To members of community child protective teams for the purposes 
of establishing a diagnosis, formulation of a treatment plan, 
monitoring the plan, investigating reports of suspected physical child 
abuse or neglect, and making recommendations to the appropriate court 
of competent jurisdiction, whose policies also require confidential 
treatment of information;
    (8) For the purpose of providing information on traffic accidents, 
personal injuries, or the loss or damage of property may be made to: 
(a) Individuals involved in such incidents; (b) persons injured in such 
incidents; (c) owners of property damaged, lost or stolen in such 
incidents; and/or
    (d) These individuals' duly verified insurance companies, personal 
representatives, and/or attorneys. The release of information under 
these circumstances should only occur when it will not: (a) Interfere 
with ongoing law enforcement proceedings, (b) risk the health or safety 
of an individual, or (c) reveal the identity of an informant or witness 
that has received an explicit assurance of confidentiality. Social 
security numbers should not be released under these circumstances 
unless the social security number belongs to the individual requester;
    (9) To Federal, State, local, tribal organizations, and contractors 
for the purpose of incident cause identification and to formulate 
incident prevention programs for improvement of public safety;
    (10) To Federal, State, local, and tribal organizations responsible 
for the formulation of statistical reports necessary for the continued 
operation of the program;
    (11) To tribal organizations when necessary and relevant to the 
assumption of a program under Public Law 93-638, the Indian Self-
Determination and Education Assistance Act, 25 U.S.C. 450 et seq.

Policies and practices for storing, retrieving, accessing, retaining, 
and disposing of records in the system:
Storage:
    Maintained in manual form in file folders and electronic media such 
as personal computers.

Retrievability:
    Cross referenced by individual's name, case number, and other 
information linked to the individuals in the report.

Safeguards:
    Maintained in accordance with 43 CFR 2.51 Privacy Act safeguards 
for records. Access is provided on a need-to-know basis only. Manual 
records are maintained in locked file cabinets under the control of 
authorized personnel during working hours, and according to the manual 
maintenance standards identified in Department of the Interior 
Regulations at 43 CFR 2.51. Electronic records are safeguarded by 
permissions set to ``Authenticated Users'' which requires password 
logon.

Retention and disposal:
    Records are maintained in accordance with record retentions 
outlined in 16 BIAM or the current BIA Records Schedule. Records are 
retired to the appropriate Federal Records Center in accordance with 
BIA records management policies.

Systems manager(s) and address:
    Deputy Bureau Director, Office of Law Enforcement Services, Bureau 
of Indian Affairs, United States Department of Interior, 1849 C Street, 
NW., MIB, Washington, DC 20240.

Systems exempted from certain provisions of the act:
    Under the general exemption authority provided by 5 U.S.C. 
552a(j)(2), the Department of the Interior has adopted a regulation, 43 
CFR 2.79(a), which exempts this system from all of the provisions of 5 
U.S.C. 552a and the regulations in 43 CFR part 2, subpart G, except 
subsections (b), (c)(1) and (2), (e)(4)(A) through (F), (e)(6), (7), 
(9), (10), and (11) and (i) of 5 U.S.C. 552a and the portions of the 
regulations in 43 CFR part 2, subpart G, implementing these 
subsections. The reasons for adoption of this regulation are set out at 
40 FR 37317 (August 26, 1975).

[FR Doc. 05-291 Filed 1-5-05; 8:45 am]
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