The purpose of the following list of questions is to help agencies identify business processes that cause suspense records and solutions that will prevent them.

General questions for criminal justice agencies

• Do you know the primary causes of suspense records in Minnesota? In your agency?
• Are you familiar with Minnesota Statutes § 299C.10 which requires prints before plea?
• Is there regular and open communication between the arresting, booking and prosecuting agencies?
• Does your agency submit information through the eCharging application?
• Does the prosecutor send a copy of the Offender Tracking Form (OTF) to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) when they do not prosecute so the BCA can update the arrest to reflect that the subject was not prosecuted?
• Does your agency have an agreed upon process for determining the Controlling Agency ORI and Case Number assignments for multi-jurisdictional cases? For example, city-to-city, county-to-county, city-to-state investigative agencies, DNR or task force-related arrests. Is the process understood between agencies?

Specific process questions

• When data subjects are tab charged, cited or summoned to court are they notified that they must be printed? How?
• Is the subject made accountable for being printed? How?
• When a subject is to appear in court for the first time, who is informed of whether the subject needs to be printed? How?
• If the subject has not yet been printed, what is the next course of action?
• Is a Rule 5.01 motion issued for a booking order?
• What follow-ups occur to verify fingerprints have been taken and data is accurate?
• Do the judges in your county order the subject to be fingerprinted if prints have not been captured before plea?
• Are the fingerprinting processes documented and available for all employees to refer to for guidance?

Summary questions

• What do you believe are the main causes of suspense in your agency?
• How do you believe these causes can best be managed or eliminated?
• Does your agency have a Livescan machine(s)? What version? Where is it (are they) located?
• Does your agency have Criminal History System (CHS) Suspense Queue access? How many users edit?