Impediments to Developing and Marketing New Technologies for Law Enforcement

• NCJ Number: 171379
• Author(s): E P Wenaas
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 111 pages
• Grant Number(s): 94-IJ-CX-K016
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)

Annotation

This study, conducted by the Justice-Industry Council on Law Enforcement Technology (JICLET), identifies impediments to the development and marketing of new tools for use by State and local law enforcement and corrections agencies and suggests remedies for these impediments.

Abstract

JICLET identified a number of key issues related to impediments to the development and marketing of new tools for law enforcement. The issues were collected into five groups, and five subcommittees were formed to address each group of issues. The subcommittees focused on law enforcement needs, market development approach, product standards and testing, legislative and judicial awareness, and government laboratory interface. After establishing the subcommittee objectives, impediments to obtaining these objectives were identified, and recommendations for countering these impediments were developed. The objectives of the Law Enforcement Needs Subcommittee are to assist in collecting and cataloging needs; publish, distribute, disseminate, and maintain needs documents; and catalog existing products. The Market Development Subcommittee has the objectives of identifying approaches for forming a cohesive market; assisting in implementing the best approaches; identifying creative methods for funding agencies for product acquisition; and characterizing the status of existing standards. The Product Standards and Testing Subcommittee has set the objectives of assisting in developing guidelines/format for testing, assisting in distribution/dissemination, and recommending suitable formats/procedures for evaluation. The Legislative and Judicial Awareness Subcommittee has the objectives of following legislation and rulings that affect liability, funding, privacy issues, and proprietary rights, as well as following judicial rulings that affect privacy issues. The Government Laboratory Interface Subcommittee's objectives are to interface with government labs to identify/characterize applicable technologies and to provide information/contacts from labs to industry. Impediments to achieving all of the aforementioned objectives are identified in this report, and recommendations for overcoming the impediments are offered. Appended supplementary information