兰德-Improving-Information_32页_2mb

Summary of "Improving Information-Sharing Across Law Enforcement: Why Can't We Know?"

Core Content

This report examines the challenges and progress in improving information-sharing among law enforcement agencies in the United States. It highlights the increasing demand for sophisticated IT systems to support operations, including records management systems (RMSs) and computer-aided dispatch (CAD) systems, which are essential for maintaining case histories and managing calls for service. Agencies also require access to regional, state, and federal criminal justice information repositories to enhance situational awareness and coordination.

Main Points

Progress Made

• Information-Sharing Standards: Significant progress has been made in developing and adopting standards for RMSs and CAD systems, such as the National Information Exchange Model (NIEM) and the Global Reference Architecture (GRA).
• Repositories and Policies: Repositories for shared law enforcement information have been established at federal, state, and regional levels. Common policies and request-for-proposal (RFP) language have also been developed.
• Affordability Strategies: Various strategies have been proposed to reduce the cost of these systems, including the use of off-the-shelf systems, shared licensing, and cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) models.

Remaining Barriers

• Complex Architecture: The information-sharing architecture remains complex, with over 50 desired interfaces between RMSs and CAD systems. Many of these interfaces are not yet standardized, and existing standards often overlap or conflict.
• Information Assurance: Security remains a challenge, even with federal policies in place. Ensuring data integrity and protection is difficult due to the need for custom configurations and ongoing compliance checks.
• Commercial Provider Resistance: Some providers resist standardization because it reduces their revenue from custom interfaces, while others lack the expertise or resources to implement standards. However, some providers see information-sharing as a competitive advantage.
• Affordability Concerns: Budget constraints, especially for smaller agencies, continue to pose a challenge in acquiring and maintaining RMSs and CAD systems.
• Requirement Gathering Challenges: Commercial providers often struggle to accurately gather and interpret requirements from law enforcement agencies, leading to excessive customization and unclear specifications.

Key Information

Information-Sharing Needs

There are two broad categories of information-sharing needs:

1. Defined Transactions: These include data exchanges such as calls for service, routing dispatch requests, and querying crime incident data.
2. Data Fusion: This involves combining diverse data sources (e.g., sensor feeds, video, social media, and external records) to detect patterns and make predictions.

Commonly Needed Information

• Tactical policing: Officer and deputy field contacts, service call data, and real-time location tracking.
• Crime analysis and investigation: Crime incident data, offender records, and identification data.
• Operational policing: Incident command, public communication, and resource management.

Critical System-to-System Connections

• N-DEx: A cloud-hosted data warehouse containing over 180 million records.
• NLETS: A state-owned nonprofit facilitating over 100 interstate data exchanges.
• ARJIS: A regional system in San Diego providing information services to local, state, and federal agencies.
• ALEISS: A secure system for sharing records across incompatible RMSs in Alaska.
• LInX: A regional information aggregator run by the U.S. Navy.
• RISS: A family of systems supporting criminal investigations across regions.

Recommendations

Short-Term

• RFP Requirements: Include compliance with NIEM and GRA, connectivity to federal/state/region systems, ease of data export, and evaluation of information-sharing capabilities during the acquisition process.
• Indicator Development: Create indicators to identify providers that support affordable and interoperable information-sharing.

Long-Term

• Common Business Process: Develop a collaborative business process that involves both practitioners and developers to identify and define system requirements.
• Multilayer Framework: Create a comprehensive framework for information sharing that includes:
  • A master data model to unify data elements across standards.
  • Software development kits (SDKs) to support standard implementation.
  • Expanded testing and certification processes.
  • Integration of critical interfaces not yet covered by existing standards.
• Policy and RFP Language: Develop updated policy and RFP language addressing information-sharing, information assurance, and privacy and civil rights.
• Support for New Technologies: Promote new technology and business models to enhance affordability and interoperability.

Conclusion

While progress has been made in improving information-sharing standards and affordability, significant barriers remain. The report emphasizes the need for a coordinated approach to address these challenges, transitioning law enforcement from the question of "why can't we know?" to "we do know." This requires continued collaboration between agencies, developers, and policymakers, as well as the development of a robust and standardized information-sharing infrastructure.