THE
RISE OF A GLOBAL LAW ENFORCEMENT NETWORK
Director Mueller
Gets Specific in a Major Address to Police Executives
11/17/04
QUESTION: How
do you defeat electronically networked, technologically sophisticated,
operationally linked, and globally based terrorist organizations and
criminal enterprises?
ANSWER: With
an electronically networked, technologically sophisticated, and operationally
linked global network of law enforcement professionals.
On Tuesday, Director
Mueller talked in specific terms about the growing strength of this global
law enforcement network in his remarks at
the annual meeting of the International Association of Chiefs of Police
(IACP)
in Los Angeles.
A few signs
of change that he cited in the speech:
· Greatly
improved information sharing. Director Mueller specifically
praised the National Criminal Intelligence Sharing Plan, developed
by the IACP and unveiled this May, calling it "the blueprint
for implementing our overall national strategy for intelligence sharing."
· Sophisticated
new technologies like the National Law Enforcement Data Exchange system,
or N-Dex, now being piloted. When complete, N-Dex will be "the
first truly national information sharing service," able to quickly
correlate vast amounts of crime data so that cases can be connected
across jurisdictions and crime trends more easily identified.
· "Real-time
electronic connectivity to the government's most up-to-date terrorist
watchlist" through the Terrorist
Screening Center. Some 70 percent of the 2,000 calls received so
far from state and local law enforcement have resulted in matches to
the watchlist, leading to new investigations.
· Stronger
operational partnerships on issues like street gangs. The
Director highlighted cases of cooperation in cracking down on gangs
in such distant places as Virginia, California, and El Salvador.
The
bottom line here in the U.S.? We're doing a better job of
gathering intelligence, tracking down terrorists and cyber criminals,
and tackling organized crime syndicates. And, "despite the need
for us to reallocate resources to the war on terrorism, violent crime
continues to drop. Our streets are safer than they were a decade
ago."
Links: Full
speech | FBI Law Enforcement Services | International
Association of Chiefs of Police
