NCJ Number
250251
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 74 Issue: 5 Dated: May 2007
Date Published
May 2007
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article reports on a pilot project whose goal is to provide law enforcement officers in the field with instant access to interstate driver's license photos over the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (Nlets).
Abstract
On March 27, 2007, at the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) State and Provincial Police Meeting, Nlets performed the first-ever live demonstration of interstate driver's license photo sharing. The demonstration showed an officer could send a query to another State and receive a Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) photo over Nlets within seconds. This demonstration constituted the first phase of a pilot project funded by the U.S. Justice Department's National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Directorate for Science and Technology. The pilot project involves about 200 officers in each of the three pilot States of Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The grant enabled Nlets to team up with the three States, two vendors, and the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) to piioneer interstate driver's license photo sharing. During the remainder of the pilot project, representatives of the three States will identify and resolve political, operational, and technical issues involved in sharing photos between States over the Nlets network. This pilot project should open the door for additional types of photo sharing that will assist officers in such areas as booking, mug shots, and possibly fingerprints. After the pilot project is completed later in 2007, additional States can become involved; however, the availability of additional grant funding to support additional States is uncertain at the time of this report. Contact information is provided.