The IJIS Institute is excited to announce the constitution of the IJIS National Records Management System (RMS) Advisory Council. This exclusive group will play a critical role in bridging the gap between the law enforcement user community nationwide and the RMS Service Providers that support their mission priorities. The Advisory Council will collaborate as a service provider community seeking efficiencies, as well as meet and identify priorities with the public sector constituent groups that they serve on the federal, state and local levels. Understanding the short- and long-term priorities of the public sector practitioners will have a direct bearing on solution development, establishment and promulgation of standards, and the goals of interoperability.

RMS Service Providers play a central role in facilitating the collection of data and information that federal, state and local agencies require to meeting their respective mission goals. Unfortunately, these systems continue to be fragmented and compartmentalized in their approaches to design and standards implementation. This holds true from both a technology and policy perspective, making it difficult to access and use data upstream to better understand crime and criminal behaviors so as to make more information and efficient decisions.

Alternatively, as federal or state strategies are developed, there are no existing mechanisms to gain insight from service providers to understand scope, impact, and complexity of project implementation – nor is there a mechanism to consolidate work efforts to ensure cost efficiencies. In order to balance the operational priorities and plans of the public sector practitioners with the supporting tool development of the private sector, public sector leaders/visionaries from the federal, state and local levels are integral to the success of this initiative. To that end, IJIS has already engaged the support of several agencies, including FBI CJIS, DOJ BJS, DOJ NIJ, and several others.

Initiative goals and objectives include the following:

Goals

• Serve as the bridge between federal, state and local law enforcement user community and the RMS Service Provider community to communicate regarding operational/policy/technical requirements, as well as those on the horizon.
• Contribute to and influence standards usage that impact law enforcement records management systems in support of interoperability.
• Serve as a conduit to learn of the local law enforcement operational, policy and technology user-requirements, both current and evolving needs.
• Serve as a central point for technology standards and information necessary to ensure systems are updated.
• Discuss and publish white papers on technology topics related to RMS that will benefit the law enforcement community.

Objectives:

• Realize enhanced coordination and alignment with federal, state and local law enforcement agency priorities and the applications that support their operational mission objectives.
• Play a crucial role in the identification/development/implementation of select standards to support more efficient data sharing.
• Realize greater processes and application development efficiencies that result in cost savings for law enforcement agencies nationwide, as well as Service Providers.

Given the intended focus of the support to be given in the constitution, development, facilitation and support of this effort for private sector service providers, and coordination with public sector practitioners, IJIS will be charging an additional fee for participation and engagement. Those service providers interested in joining the group or learning more about this initiative should send a letter of interest to info@ijis.org. We will respond directly and/or set up a group session before or during our upcoming National Symposium scheduled for May 2-4, 2022 at the Ritz Carlton in Washington, D.C.