Police Information Sharing: All-Crimes Approach to Homeland Security

• NCJ Number: 229616
• Author(s): Ernest D. Scott Jr.
• Date Published: 2009
• Length: 212 pages
• Sale Source: LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC
• Publication Format: Book (Hardbound)
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: LFB Scholarly Series - Criminal Justice: Recent Scholarship

Annotation

This research illustrated the effectiveness of low-level police information sharing in advancing both all-crimes and counterterrorism efforts through an analysis of the Florida Integrated Network or Data Exchange and Retrieval (FINDER), a low-level police information sharing technology and system.

Abstract

Results of the study show that police information sharing works. Law enforcement officers, who have access to routine police data across multiple jurisdictions, report improved performance and increased efficiency in their efforts to battle crime. By extension, and with the support of anecdotes provided by the American intelligence community, these gains in all-crimes police performance and efficiency should also be contributing to antiterrorism efforts. The research reported in this book offers sound evidence that the United States law enforcement and intelligence communities are on the right track by working to expand information sharing capacity. The lack of law enforcement agencies sharing of low-level information from everyday police operations was identified as a factor contributing to the 9/11 terrorists' ability to execute their crimes. FINDER was created by a consortium of Florida law enforcement agencies. It shares only low-level police information between police agencies and encompasses a large and diverse service group of agencies and users. Low-level information is generated by routine police activities such as traffic stops, crime reports, administrative reports, calls for service, and miscellaneous offenses. As of 2006, FINDER involved approximately 60 Florida police agencies that were exchanging low-level information. This research encompassed several types of data and observations from the study of FINDER. The value of sharing low-level police information was measured in terms of FINDER's contributions to successful policing outcomes for its 1,600 users. An understanding of the dynamics of information flow, and how investigators and analysts productively use this information, is expected to advance both the all-crimes and counterterrorism efforts of the United States law enforcement intelligence communities. Tables, figures, appendixes A-D, references and index