This summary of a larger report presents recommendations and action steps for law enforcement agencies to facilitate their participation in a proposed National Criminal Intelligence Sharing Plan, which envisions local, State, tribal, and Federal law enforcement agencies collecting information and producing intelligence and then sharing it with other law enforcement and public safety agencies.
The concept of a National Criminal Intelligence Sharing Plan was spawned by law enforcement executives and intelligence experts at the 2002 International Association of Chiefs of Police Criminal Intelligence Sharing Summit. Summit participants called for the creation of a nationally coordinated criminal intelligence council that would develop and oversee a national intelligence plan. In response to this proposal, the Global Justice Information Sharing Initiative Intelligence Work Group (GIWG) was formed. Local, State, and tribal law enforcement representatives were key participants in the development of the National Criminal Intelligence Sharing Plan. The proposed plan provides a model for an intelligence sharing plan among law enforcement agencies. It would be based in a technology architecture that provides secure, seamless sharing of information among systems. Other features of the plan are a national model for intelligence training, an outreach plan to promote timely and credible intelligence sharing, and a plan that leverages existing systems and networks while allowing flexibility for technology and process enhancements. This report presents 28 action items/recommendations that local, State, tribal, and Federal law enforcement agencies should use as a guide to ensure that effective intelligence sharing becomes institutionalized throughout the law enforcement community nationwide. Among the recommendations and actions are the development of minimum standards for the management of an intelligence function; the creation of a Criminal Intelligence Coordinating Council; the preservation of privacy and civil liberties; the development of minimum criminal intelligence training standards; and the identification of an intelligence information sharing capability that can be widely accessed by local, State, tribal, and Federal law enforcement and public safety agencies.