This document lays out some considerations for determining whether an organization needs a privacy officer along with key resources that were developed for justice and public safety offices.
This document is a resource for state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) justice or public safety agencies that need to collect, use, store, and share information that may result in questions regarding their privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties (privacy) policy; it aims to provide guidance regarding privacy protection best practices. The first section provides various considerations for organizations in order to determine whether they need a privacy officer to manage policies and procedures that protect personally identifiable information (PII) and other sensitive information; whether that privacy officer should be a full- or part-time position; what qualifications are recommended for the privacy function; and what responsibilities are recommended for a privacy officer. The second section provides some key privacy resources developed for state, local, and tribal (SLT) justice and public safety entities, by the Global Justice Information Sharing Initiative (Global), Global partners, and Justice Department (DOJ) collaborations with other federal agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Resources include general resources; education and awareness resources on civil rights, civil liberties program development, First Amendment protections, role of state and law enforcement in First Amendment events, a civil liberties web portal, and tools for privacy impact assessments.