NCJ Number
219565
Journal
THE POLICE CHIEF Volume: 74 Issue: 4 Dated: April 2007 Pages: 38,40-42,44
Date Published
April 2007
Length
5 pages
Annotation
In examining known clichés in public safety and security information sharing, this article discusses the progress made in Canada in developing a public safety and security information sharing system with all stakeholders viewed as equals, the national Police Information Portal (PIP) system.
Abstract
The real progress in information sharing requires a debate where stakeholders join as equals to set the national safety and security information sharing agenda, debate the risks and tradeoffs, work toward solutions, and pledge to put in the effort necessary. In Canada, the early call for this level of debate has been a key to developing a national approach to information sharing. To expedite the process the Canadian Government created the Canada Public Safety Information Network (CPSIN). CPSIN brought together public safety and security partners to create a new, national, and comprehensive network of partners, an action plan, and systems for delivering electronic information sharing capabilities in support of public safety business processes. CPSIN laid the foundation for the new National Integrated Interagency Information (N-III) initiative and the eventual national Police Information Portal (PIP) system which is the sharing of police occurrence information. This was seen as a direct result of stakeholders in the Canadian public safety and security sector seeing past the information sharing clichés to the hard truths. The well-known clichés in public safety and security information sharing include: (1) getting the required information to the right people at the right time is crucial; (2) the technology exists to provide trusted tools and a secure network that can make information sharing easy; (3) information sharing must respect current methods and best practices without compromising investigations; and (4) the rising importance of information policing changes the mode of operations from need-to-know to need-to-share. If there is a lesson to be shared from the Canadian experience so far, it is to approach information sharing challenges not with clichés but with the facts.