NCJ Number
203443
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 70 Issue: 11 Dated: November 2003 Pages: 24-28
Date Published
November 2003
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article categorizes the inhibitors of law enforcement information sharing and offers solutions for each.
Abstract
The challenges of sharing information have been around for a long time. But the lack of information sharing has been deemed a contributing factor to the tragic events of September 11, 2001. There are issues of jurisdiction, protecting confidential informants, and need-to-know requirements in sharing law enforcement information. There are also cultural issues and the tendency to protect what is considered important information, which includes knowledge and specific information. That same need to protect information is also a restraint to sharing. Databases and the structured data that reside within them do not tap the vast majority of information that exists throughout the law enforcement and intelligence communities. That information exists in unstructured form, such as paper records. Records are slow to process and usually reside in boxes, making it difficult to search and retrieve them. The common inhibitors to information sharing are defined process, lack of planning, undefined requirements, lack of context, cultural resistance, organizational conflicts and turf wars, security classifications, security clearances, need to know, protecting sources and methods, paper format, availability of content, content metadata, and verifiable trust in a person. The three key solutions that enable effective information sharing are access to information, cultural change management, and information technology (IT) and knowledge management (KM). Overcoming cultural constraints requires tackling the issues head-on and building an architecture that supports the organizational change and changed behavior. KM promotes a holistic perspective to information sharing and team collaboration. KM is composed of effective content management, business process automation, and team collaboration. Both a cultural change management program and a KM infrastructure must be performed in parallel to achieve an effective environment and efficient operations.