NCJ Number
237432
Date Published
January 2012
Length
75 pages
Annotation
The U.S. Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) performed this audit in order to assess the status of the implementation of the Justice Department's Integrated Wireless Network (IWN).
Abstract
Responding to the aging and obsolescence of the Justice Department's land mobile radio systems, the IWN program began in 1998. Estimated to cost over $5 billion, IWN was designed not only to address the Department's aging systems, but to also meet Federal law enforcement requirements to communicate across agencies, allow interoperability with State and local law enforcement partners, and meet mandates to use Federal radio frequency spectrum more efficiently. The Justice Department's Justice Management Division manages the IWN program, and the Department's Chief Information Officer is responsible for the program's overall implementation. In the current audit, the OIG assessed progress made in the implementation of the IWN program since the previous audit (March 2007); assessed whether the Department's communications systems comply with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's requirements; and assessed the implementation of the OIG's previous recommendations. The audit found that the IWN has yet to achieve communication interoperability with other Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies. Funding cuts in the 2010 and 2011 budgets have crippled the IWN implementation, and the 2012 Federal budget recommends the suspension of funding for IWN. This recommendation cites current technology alternatives, such as 3G and 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE), along with the National Public Safety Broadband Plan in development, which are currently available and did not exist when IWN was originally conceived; however, technology that will meet the needs of law enforcement agencies has yet to be refined. Appended statement of the audit's objectives, scope, and methodology; the Justice Department's response to the draft audit report; and the OIG's summary of actions necessary to resolve and close the report.