Try harder, must we.
The FBI Built a Database That Can Catch Serial Rapists—and Almost Nobody Uses It
For roughly 30 years the FBI has virtually ignored a system meant to help cops track the behavioral patterns of violent criminals.
Phi Beta Iota: Proprietary software and hardware — and bureaucratic boundaries — have been the death of the intelligence community. Remember that there are over eighty major databases that are still not integrated. What everyone forgets is that that 99% of the data we need is under the control of people outside the beltway who have neither the time nor the money to feed us that data. We have to make is easy for them to do, at no expense to them. That's the part most leaders in DC simply do not get. A very interesting opportunity at this point in time. The time may also have come to unify all police across the USA into an Interior security service with common training, common oversight, and common information technology services. In the article below, look past the accountability issue and focus on the data issue. The time may be right for a national police service that is de-militarized (SWAT teams can be in the National Guard), refocused on community intelligence-led policing, and supported by a local to national to global police information-sharing and sense-making grid.
See Especially:
Why US Police Are Out of Control
So how many police departments does the United States have? The answer: more than 18,000. This includes three dozen or so at the federal level plus a staggering 17,985 at the state and local level – everything from state troopers and city patrolmen to campus cops, hospital and housing police, park rangers, and even a special department of zoo police in the town the Brookfield just outside of Chicago. . . . The upshot is not only 18,000 police departments but more than 90,000 local governments in all, all autonomous, self-governing, and endlessly jealous of their rights and prerogatives.
See Also:
C.I.A. Officers and F.B.I. Agents, Meet Your New Partner: The Analyst
Panel Urges FBI to Expand Intelligence Work, Global Footprint
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