State law enforcement agencies call for national information sharing network
I wonder what the local level chiefs and sheriffs have to say about this idea. It is often difficult enough to get your own information in our technology-challenged agencies much less share it with everyone. Big changes would be needed - very big.
I'm really scratching my head on this one...why would they say this? DHS and DOJ has been pumping out $4-7 billion a year in grant dollars that the state and locals control [see: http://nowheretohide.org/wordpress/?p=60 for more on the money side of this issue]. DOJ and DHS have been dumping millions more into beefing up current networks like LEO, NLETS, RISS, HSDN, and HSIN. Add to that the many national information sharing efforts like N-DEx, R-DEx, LInX, VINE, NSOPR and others, and you've got one heck of an infrastructure to "Git'er Done” (all apologies to the Cable Guy).
ReplyDeleteFrom my experience in information sharing over the last nine years, we are missing three important (non-technical or funding) factors:
1. Lack of regional leadership to actually make it happen "information sharing is an executive leadership contact sport" - it cannot be relegated down the chain or to the IT departments, it has to be led by the chiefs and sheriffs themselves - if it's not in the top-three things the chief is asking about, it probably won't get done.
2. Lack of connecting effective information sharing to desired public safety outcomes; information sharing itself is quite often seen as the end-game instead of what it truly is--"a means to an end"--a critical enabler of effective law enforcement tactics and operations; how many LE strategic plans call out specific information and intelligence needs that can be provided through information and intelligence sharing?
3. Finally, the absence of the first two factors prevents us from sharing ALL shareable data - in particular open cases and intelligence files. Most of the information being shared today is structured data and (some) narratives from criminal incident files; what is really needed are the meatier narrative supplemental documents, witness interviews, proffers, and other investigative and intelligence files that would really help to derive strategies to "get ahead" of criminal concerns.
I may not make a lot of friends by saying this, but we have to stop looking to DOJ and DHS; they can certainly help, but, if the IACP, MCC and NSA can't make information sharing happen, were in real trouble.
Chuck Georgo
chuck@nowheretohide.org
Actually smacks of throwing money at a problem hoping for an IT solution when the underlying issue is the lack of local funding of police departments, and the disorganization of 18000+ police departments all acting as their own little fiefdom. This is an IT problem, but at the moment, the underlying information culture is not ready. More fundamental issues in US policing have to be fixed first.
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