One of BJA’s goals is to eliminate unnecessary requirements and help meet grantees’ needs by providing the least restrictive and clearest guidance possible. In coordinating training and technical assistance activities for states, BJA found that many states had similar needs. In response, BJA compiled these findings and began developing national-level training to reduce duplication and overlap of efforts. BJA and SAAs also routinely partnered on initiatives at the state and local levels.

BJA funded more than 100 training and technical assistance projects in FY 2002. These projects provided vital support to practitioners working to improve community crime prevention, law enforcement, adjudication, corrections, supervision, American Indian justice systems, and technology.

BJA also encouraged states to work jointly on similar initiatives. BJA has been facilitating an exchange of information among the states on the development and refinement of electronic grant management systems. For example, BJA is convening focus group meetings that include representatives of SAAs to discuss current activities, future plans, and lessons learned. In this way, states do not have to expend development costs, but they can take advantage of the expertise of other states.

One of BJA’s most important investments in technology-related assistance is the support of the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) Information Technology (IT) Initiative. Traditionally, funding for information technology in the criminal justice system has been limited to individual programs or specific purposes. This approach has led to the implementation of different computer systems serving the various justice components in local, state, and tribal governments. Many of these systems are incapable of sharing information and perpetuate inefficiency in regional, state, and local justice systems.

OJP recognized the importance of addressing this problem in 1998 and, in turn, established the IT Initiative to facilitate improved communication and data sharing at all levels of government and across all disciplines of the justice system. It also has helped states and local jurisdictions establish, integrate, and upgrade information systems and identification technologies, increasing their ability to prevent and fight crime.

BJA helped the criminal justice system share information by providing research findings and guidance on strategic planning and governance; standards, infrastructure, and architecture; privacy and information quality; security; and resource management issues. In addition, BJA continued to maintain the IT web site, which provides this information to the public.

On September 1, 2002, the Regional Information Sharing Systems (RISS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI’s) Law Enforcement Online (LEO) became interconnected. RISS is the only multijurisdictional crime intelligence system operated by and for state and local law enforcement agencies, and LEO is a communication mechanism and information service that links all levels of law enforcement and educates officers on the best technologies and practices in all areas of law enforcement. As a result of their connection, vetted and authorized users of the RISS and LEO systems are now able to access both systems through a single “interface gateway.” This achievement has significantly enhanced U.S. law enforcement agencies’ ability to carry out their mission of protecting and defending American citizens because they can now exchange information within an encrypted “secure-but-unclassified” private network using the Internet.