BARAGA – The Keweenaw Bay Indian Community is considering what information it should report to Federal Bureau of Investigation data-collection programs.

At its Thursday meeting, KBIC Tribal Council members talked at length with Chief Judge Bradley Dakota and SORNA (Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act) Coordinator Charles Miller about the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) and National Data Exchange System (N-DEx), both of which provide users with individuals’ histories with the law as input by local, state, tribal and federal criminal justice agencies. NICS data is used to do background checks for firearm purchases. Similar to NICS and N-DEx, SORNA houses national data on sex offenders.

Council members mainly were concerned with the data in connection with issuing gun permits and handling drug and domestic violence offenses on the reservation.

“Do we want to enter criminal history data into the system?” asked KBIC Vice President Jennifer Misegan. “It’s a lot of information so I think we should think about it.”

As part of the discussion, council members expressed concerns with making life more difficult for tribal members who have paid for their crimes in court and now are on the straight and narrow.

“The system is only as good as the information it gets,” Miller told the council at its Thursday meeting. “It’s going to help us with enforcement. We can actually enter disqualifying information if we choose to.”

Specifically, council members asked Dakota if the court could distinguish between drug dealers and offenders caught with small amounts of illegal drugs. Dakota said KBIC should change its statute that doesn’t differentiate between the two offenses as a way to settle that issue.

Dakota did weigh in on how he thinks domestic violence cases should be handled.

“I have an opinion on that,” Dakota said. “If a person just has one, I don’t look at that as a big deal.” However, he said multiple violent offenses present a more serious community safety issue.

“Obviously we’re going to need some time on this,” KBIC President Warren Swartz said. “As soon as I get some direction from council, I’ll let you know.”