PRIOR TO DECEMBER 1973 WHEN THE NLETS WAS UPGRADED, LAW ENFORCEMENT DATA BANKS WERE DEVELOPED TO MAINTAIN RECORDS PERTINENT TO A HIGHLY MOBILE CRIMINAL FORCE. THE USE OF THESE DATA BANKS WAS HAMPERED, HOWEVER, BECAUSE OF POLICE COMMUNICATION BOTTLENECKS AND THE REQUIRED MANUAL ACCESS TO DATA FILES. IT WAS DETERMINED IN 1973 THAT, WITH PROPER EQUIPMENT AND SOFTWARE, THE EXISTENT LAW ENFORCEMENT TELETYPE SYSTEM COULD BE UPGRADED TO SERVE THE FUNCTION OF A MUCH NEEDED HIGH-SPEED INTERSTATE POLICE COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK CAPABLE OF COMPUTER DATA BANK ACCESS. THE MONEY FOR PHASE 1 OF THE PROJECT WAS USED FOR THE PURCHASE OF THE INITIAL COMPUTER-SWITCHERS NEEDED TO SERVE AS A FOUNDATION FOR A HIGH-SPEED COMPUTER INTERFACED SYSTEM AND AIDED THE FIRST STATES IN TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE NETWORK. PHASE II OF THE PROJECT, FUNDED ON APRIL 23, 1975, FURTHER REFINED THE SYSTEM TECHNOLOGICALLY, SUPPLIED GREATER SPEED AND EFFICIENCY, ENCOURAGED ADDITIONAL USERS AND USE OF THE SYSTEM, AND INSURED THAT THE NLETS SYSTEM COULD RETURN TO FISCAL SELF-SUFFICIENCY BY THE END OF THE FUNDING PERIOD. PHASE III OF THE PROJECT WAS APPROVED AND BEGAN ON MAY 1, 1976. THESE FUNDS WERE USED TO CONTINUE TO UPGRADE THE TECHNOLOGICAL CAPACITY AND EFFICIENCY OF THE COMPUTER-SWITCHER AND FUND A HIGH-SPEED MULTICONCENTRATOR NETWORK. THIS DECREASED THE NUMBER OF MILES OF INTERCONNECTION LINES NEEDED AND THEREBY DECREASED THE MONTHLY OPERATING COST OF THE SYSTEM. THE NEW NLETS SYSTEM, WHICH COSTS APPROXIMATELY $4.1 MILLION, IS CONSIDERED TECHNOLOGICALLY AND PHILOSOPHICALLY CAPABLE OF MEETING THE LAW ENFORCEMENT INTERSTATE COMMUNICATIONS AND DATA ACCESS NEEDS OF THE UNITED STATES INTO THE 1980'S. REFERENCES, TABLES OF FINANCIAL DATA, AND GRAPHS ILLUSTRATING THE INCREASED EFFECTIVENESS OF COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE NLETS ARE PROVIDED. (RCB)