Section 2. Fiscal Year 2001 Programs (continued)

Information Technology

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 state, local, and tribal governments. Many of these systems are incapable of sharing information and perpetuate inefficiency in regional, state, and local justice systems.

The Office of Justice Programs and BJA recognized the importance of addressing this problem in 1998, when they established the Information Technology (IT) Initiative. The IT Initiative facilitates improved communication and information sharing at all levels of government—federal, regional, state, local, and tribal—and across all disciplines of the justice system. The funding and technical assistance initiative has helped states and local jurisdictions establish, integrate, and upgrade information systems and identification technologies, increasing their ability to prevent and fight crime.

In FY 2001, the initiative pursued projects in five strategic areas: leadership and guidance, infrastructure and governance, standards, architecture, and privacy and information quality.

Leadership and Guidance

The Global Justice Information Network Advisory Committee (Global), a consortium of key stakeholders who work to integrate justice information, advises the Federal Government, through the Attorney General and the Assistant Attorney General for OJP, on standards-based electronic information exchange throughout the justice community. In 2001, the Infrastructure/Standards and XML workgroups made significant progress toward launching a pilot Standards Registry Program and an XML Data Dictionary. Additionally, Global established working groups in the areas of security, privacy, and outreach.

In October 2001, OJP launched its Information Technology Initiative web site. This comprehensive, interactive resource for justice practitioners and policymakers provides information related to information-sharing initiatives, including bulletins on new policy and technology developments.

Also in 2001, BJA worked with the National Governors Association to award $16 million to 26 states to help them connect information networks that will allow police officers, court administrators, corrections officers, and other officials at the state, local, and federal levels to share relevant justice information.

Infrastructure and Governance

BJA worked with the National Criminal Justice Association in 2001 to document the characteristics of state-level governance models that are guiding the implementation of integrated criminal justice information systems. The findings of that effort are compiled in A Survey of Governance Structures for Statewide and State-level Integrated Justice Information Initiatives. Similarly, BJA funded Public Technology, Inc. to examine local governance structures and report its findings. The result, Strong Governance Structures for the Integration of Justice Information Systems, highlights the efforts of local jurisdictions that are engaged in promising justice information systems integration.

Standards

The justice community witnessed unprecedented milestones in the standards reconciliation process during 2001. In addition to the groundbreaking efforts of the Global working groups, 2001 also saw the formation of the Law Enforcement Information Technology Standards (LEITS) Council. Working with the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the Police Executive Research Forum, and the National Sheriffs’ Association, the council will discuss creating technology standards to serve as the foundation for designing modern information systems.

Architecture

In 1998, BJA awarded the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) a grant to conduct a State Information System Architecture Survey and report their recommendations for an architectural template. In 2001, NASCIO continued its work to implement the architectural template at the state and local levels. NASCIO plans to conduct regional workshops in 2002.

BJA also funded SEARCH, a consortium of information technology assistance providers, to develop a research tool to capture detailed information about the events, agencies, information, and exchange conditions associated with justice information integration. This tool will play a critical role in the development of integrated systems.

Privacy and Information Quality

BJA and its partners have worked to develop a comprehensive draft document, Justice Information Privacy Guidelines, that covers a wide range of privacy and information quality issues. BJA has formed a workgroup to edit and revise this document and to support policy development workshops in 2002.

Other important technology initiatives funded in FY 2001 include Regional Information Sharing Systems, a network of regional centers that share intelligence on criminal organizations that operate across jurisdictional lines; the National White Collar Crime Center, which provides a national support system for agencies in their fight against cybercrime and economic crime; and two demonstration programs that are showing the extraordinary potential of crime-fighting technology.

Regional Information Sharing Systems

BJA continued to fund and improve the Regional Information Sharing Systems (RISS) program, which supports criminal justice agencies in identifying, targeting, and removing criminal conspiracies and activities organized across jurisdictional lines. First funded in 1975, RISS is the only multijurisdictional criminal intelligence system operated by and for state and local law enforcement agencies. RISS serves more than 6,000 law enforcement agencies in all 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Canadian provinces.

In FY 2001, the RISS Nationwide Intelligence Network (RISS.net) went online, greatly expanding communications capabilities and increasing RISS membership. Intelligence databases at all of the six regional RISS centers are now connected electronically through RISS.net, providing member agencies access through a secure Intranet. A single inquiry to one center may generate searches of all six databases. Local, state, and federal agencies’ interest in RISS.net has grown dramatically in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, as they seek tools to coordinate their antiterrorism enforcement activities.

RISS.net includes four subsystems, the Intelligence Database Pointer System (RISSIntel), National Gang Database (RISSGang), Investigative Lead Bulletin Board (RISSLeads), and RISS Secure Intranet, which interconnects State Criminal Intelligence Systems that have been cleared to use the secure Intranet and serve as secure RISS.net system nodes.

National White Collar Crime Center

The National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C) provides a national support network for federal, state, and local law enforcement and regulatory agencies in all aspects of the prevention, investigation, and prosecution of economic and high-tech crime. These crimes include investment fraud, health-care fraud, telemarketing and securities fraud, financial crimes against the elderly, and computer crime.

In FY 2001, BJA funding enabled NW3C to serve as the operational gateway to the following initiatives: the National Cybercrime Training Partnership (NCTP), the National Fraud Complaint Management Center, the National Coalition for the

Prevention of Economic Crime, the NW3C Research Section, and the Internet Fraud Complaint Center in partnership with the FBI. More than 1,700 individuals representing 900 agencies were trained, in FY 2001, in financial investigation, financial records examination and analysis, and disaster fraud. Nearly 65,000 copies of the videotape and manual Cyber Crime Fighting: The Law Enforcement Officer’s Guide to Online Crime were distributed. NW3C member agencies cited the center’s resources as a key factor in cases that resulted in more than 90 arrests and indictments, $555 million in criminal restitution, and 310 months in criminal sentences.

Crime-Fighting Technology

A partnership between the Police Executive Research Forum and the University of Virginia began work to create a crime analysis information web site that will aid law enforcement investigations. The web site will teach law enforcement users how to conduct crime analysis on the Internet, link them to software tools and other crime analysis web sites, and provide a much-needed vehicle for law enforcement investigators to learn how their peers have used the Internet for crime analysis.

The University of New Hampshire, Office of Sponsored Research, continued to address the problems of integrating communications networks within mobile police units. The university is facilitating the development and deployment of integrated sensor, computer, and communications technologies to increase these units’ effectiveness and decrease their isolation.