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Crime has become global, with criminal syndicates routinely organizing across jurisdictional boundaries, making the need to share information among jurisdictions more critical. The umbrella of information sharing includes, but is not limited to, interoperable communication systems, integrated justice information sharing systems, and reliable crime statistics, terrorism, and criminal intelligence. The increased demand for information sharing has permitted tribal law enforcement to advise and participate in national projects and discussions like the Global Justice Information Network, with the intent to strengthen the law enforcement community.
The Office of Justice Programs' Global Justice Information Sharing Network (Global) was created to support the broad-scale exchange of pertinent justice data by serving as an advisory body to the U.S. Attorney General on justice information-sharing issues. Through this counsel, Global promotes standards-based electronic information exchange to provide the entire justice community with timely, accurate, complete, and accessible information in a secure and trusted environment. Assembling key personnel from local, state, tribal, federal, and international justice entities, the Global Advisory Committee facilitates the network's efforts. Indian country is represented by the Indian Country Law Enforcement Section of the International Association of Chiefs of Police on the federal advisory committee, and tribal experts serve on working groups to the committee.
Partnership between tribal law enforcement and the U.S. Department of Justice assists in addressing information sharing with Indian country. Indian tribes and the justice community are working to include Indian country in the development of a global justice integrated information network. Indian tribes are taking responsibility for the development of their information systems. However, much work remains to be done in Indian country, such as the conversion of communication systems from wide to narrow band, the incorporation of tribal protection orders into national law enforcement databases, and training and education. We have taken the first steps toward working cooperatively on identifying strategies to include Indian country. Information-sharing resources for the justice and public safety community are located at www.it.ojp.gov and DOJ agencies.
DOJ launched a new national AMBER Alert strategy to strengthen the existing AMBER Alert network, enhance coordination and communication, and expand its scope. As part of this national strategy, DOJ also announced that a new guide for law enforcement public information officers, AMBER Alert Best Practices Guide for Public Information Officers, would be available at the AMBER Alert Web site: www.amberalert.gov. DOJ is also working with Canada and Mexico to encourage cross-border cooperation if a child is abducted from the United States across its northern or southern borders.
To create a seamless AMBER Alert network across the country, DOJ encourages Indian country to develop plans tailored to their specific needs so that children in Indian country can benefit from AMBER Alert. DOJ met with numerous tribal leaders and state AMBER Alert coordinators to encourage them to work with tribal governments to create a seamless AMBER Alert network nationwide.
The National Institute of Justice and the Bureau of Justice Statistics perform important roles to assist DOJ in this area. The Bureau of Justice Assistance has programs that provide for regional information sharing.
Regional Information Sharing Systems Program
The Regional Information Sharing Systems (RISS) Program is composed of six regional centers that share intelligence and coordinate efforts against criminal networks that operate in many locations across jurisdictional lines. Typical targets of RISS activities are terrorism, drug trafficking, violent crime, cybercrime, gang activity, and organized criminal activities. Each of the centers, however, selects its own target crimes and the range of services provided to member agencies. RISS serves more than 7,300 member law enforcement agencies in 50 states, the District of Columbia, Australia, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Tribal law enforcement can receive assistance for gang and intelligence information sharing through membership to the RISS program. Through RISS Centers, tribal law enforcement can use RISS ATIX (Automated Trusted Information eXchange), which expands who can share information from just law enforcement to all public safety entities of the tribe. This service permits secure e-mail, posting of notices, secure chat areas, and other tools valuable to communication and information sharing. Tribal agencies also can become members of Law Enforcement Online, which is hosted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Special Interest Groups also can be set up to share tribal specific information.
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