|U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of InvestigationNational Crime Information Center: 30 Years
      on the Beat

      The Investigator
        December 1996 - January 1997 Issue
        How NCIC came
          into being
          NCIC: What's
          inside
          NCIC: How it
          works
          Is it effective?
          What the future
          holds: NCIC-2000By the end of 1967, just about
        one year after the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) became
        operational, NCIC had handled a total of two million transactions.
        Sounds impressive. Some 30 years
        later, NCIC is still handling almost two million transactions--this
        time in one day.
        Now, that's impressive!
        How NCIC came into being
        NCIC came on-line in January
        of 1967. Its pre-1967 history, although brief, is consistent
        with the FBI's mission of assisting Federal, state, and local
        law enforcement agencies with their own investigations.
        In response to an increasing
        crime rate in 1965, the FBI recognized that law enforcement officers
        all over the country had a critical need for instant access to
        the steadily increasing pool of criminal data. The Bureau took
        the initial steps towards the development of a nationwide electronic
        center which would provide that data quickly:
        Working with the Committee on
          Uniform Crime Reports and the International Association of Chiefs
          of Police, the Bureau established an advisory group of local
          and state law enforcement personnel to develop nationwide standards
          for the new system;Working with the Commerce Department,
          the Bureau sponsored a survey of existing telecommunications
          systems in order to find one that would best support a nationwide
          computerized system.By January 1967--with national
        standards in hand and a telecommunications network in place--the
        high-speed computers which form the heart of the NCIC began operating
        with 15 on-line state and metropolitan area terminals tying into
        the FBI's central computer.
        One of NCIC's first successes
        occurred in May of that same year--a New York City police officer,
        suspicious of a parked car, radioed in a request for a NCIC search
        of the license plate. Within a minute and half, the patrolman
        was notified that the car had indeed been stolen a month earlier
        in Boston. It's been said that the last words of the patrolman
        over his radio were, "It works! It works!"
        By 1971, all 50 states and the
        District of Columbia were hooked up to NCIC. Today, the system
        has grown to more than 80 thousand law enforcement and criminal
        justice agencies. An NCIC Advisory Policy Board made up of state
        and local law enforcement representatives is responsible for
        making sure the needs of state and local police are being met.
        NCIC: What's inside
        When NCIC first went on-line,
        it contained about 95,000 records in five databases, or files:
        Stolen Autos, Stolen License Plates, Stolen or Missing Guns,
        Other Identifiable Stolen Articles, and Wanted Persons. The FBI
        entered an additional 5,000 records of Federal fugitives.
        All NCIC records were entered
        into the system by the agency with the investigative jurisdiction--that
        way, everyone knew the records were valid. No one could update
        or clear any records except for the original agency. (That policy
        remains in effect today.)
        Over the years, existing NCIC
        files have been expanded, and new ones have been added. Today,
        there are some 17 files containing more than 10 million records,
        plus 24 million criminal history records contained in the Interstate
        Indentification Index (accessible through NCIC). Some of the
        more notable file additions include:
        The Missing Persons File, added
          in 1975. It was created to provide a centralized computerized
          system to help law enforcement agencies locate individuals--including
          juveniles--who are not "wanted" on any criminal charges
          but who are simply "missing" (and who fit under one
          of four categories.)The Unidentified Persons File,
          established in 1983. It provides a way to cross-reference unidentified
          bodies against records in the Missing Persons File.The Interstate Identification
          Index, added in 1983. It gives law enforcement officers quick
          access to criminal history information.The U.S. Secret Service Protective
          File, also added in 1983. It maintains names and other information
          on individuals who are believed to pose a threat to the President.The Foreign Fugitive File was
          added in 1987. It was in response to the increasing international
          nature of crime and of law enforcement.The Violent Gang/Terrorist File
          became operational in 1995. It was established to help identify
          criminal gangs and their members to local, state, and Federal
          law enforcement.NCIC: How it works
        The NCIC computer is currently
        housed at FBIHQ. Connecting terminals are located throughout
        the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands
        in police departments, sheriff's offices, state police facilities,
        Federal law enforcement agencies, and other criminal justice
        agencies.
        NCIC users access the NCIC computer
        through these state computer systems known as "control terminal
        agencies." For example:
        A police officer on the beat,
          stopping a car that's been weaving in and out of traffic erratically,
          can radio back to his or her dispatcher at the police station
          to have an NCIC check run on the driver. (The officer may be
          fortunate enough to have a mobile terminal mounted in the squad
          car, and he or she can perform his/her own search.)The dispatcher will send the
          request to the state computer system--if there's no "hit"
          at the state level, then the search request goes on to the main
          NCIC terminal.Almost instantly, NCIC will
          respond with either a "hit" or a "miss."
          Almost instantly, the police officer has a pretty good idea of
          who he or she is dealing with--whether the individual should
          be considered dangerous, or just a bad driver!Here's an interesting note: FBI
        usage of the NCIC system accounts for only about one percent
        of all its transactions (FBI field office personnel access NCIC
        through their individual state computer systems.) That means
        99 percent of all NCIC inquiries emanate from other Federal,
        state, and local agencies.
        Is it effective?
        Does NCIC really make that much
        of a difference in the business of law enforcement? A recent
        survey on the benefits of NCIC clearly shows that it does. During
        a one-year period:
        81,750 "wanted" persons
          were found; * 113,293 individuals were arrested; * 39,268 missing
          juveniles and 8,549 missing adults were located; * 110,681 cars
          valued at over $570 million were found. NCIC is an important
          law enforcement tool, and law enforcement officers recognize
          that--NCIC averages about 20 inquiries a second. And it can be--and
          has been--used for virtually any type of investigation. Two of
          the most well-known cases involving NCIC were the Oklahoma City
          bombing and the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.Federal investigators, after
          running Oklahoma City bombing suspect Timothy McVeigh's name
          through NCIC, discovered that an Oklahoma state trooper had stopped
          and run an NCIC search on an individual by the name of Timothy
          McVeigh a little more than an hour after (and about 88 miles
          away from) the site of the explosion. (He was still in custody
          and was consequently held for futher questioning.)In 1968, a search of NCIC's
          Wanted Persons File was undertaken to identify fugitives whose
          prints might match a latent fingerprint taken from the gun that
          killed Dr. King with fugitives. The search resulted in 1,200
          possibilities; a closer look by FBI fingerprint personnel picked
          out an exact match--James Earl Ray, the man subsequently convicted
          for the murder.What the future holds: NCIC-2000
        It can be said, however, that
        the current NCIC system--while still performing adequately--is
        a victim of its own success. NCIC is using software designed
        in the 1960s while struggling to keep up with 1990s-style crime.
        Its first-year figure of 2 million transactions is dwarfed by
        the projected 600 million transactions that are expected to flow
        across the NCIC network by the end of 1996.
        That's why--several years ago--the
        FBI began planning an upgraded NCIC, with state-of-the-art hardware
        and software that will allow for even more changes down the road
        as technology evolves. With critical input from the NCIC Advisory
        Policy Board as to what state and local law enforcement needed,
        the Bureau set out to make NCIC-2000--the enhanced NCIC--a reality.
        NCIC-2000 will continue to do
        everything the current NCIC system does, but it will do it better.
        It will also offer more--including the electronic transmission
        of photographs, mugshots, photographs of stolen property, and
        fingerprint data. It will have an automated fingerprint matching
        system which will identify someone based on a right index fingerprint
        when the subject presents no identification or is suspected of
        presenting a false I.D.
        A main feature of NCIC-2000 will
        be a mobile imaging unit installed inside police squad cars.
        This unit will consist of:
        a personal computer,a hand-held fingerprint scanner,a hand-held digital camera,and a small printer.The FBI will provide the NCIC-2000
        custom-developed software free of charge, but police departments
        have to obtain their own hardware and some additional commercial
        software.
        Other planned NCIC 2000 features?
        Expanded fields that will allow for additional information. Improved
        name search techniques. Capability to link all records relating
        to the same crime. And improved security through encryption,
        network management, and intrusion detection.
        All of this will help law enforcement
        officers make more accurate identifications of criminals. It
        will also better protect officers in potentially dangerous situations.
        NCIC 2000 is expected to be up
        and running by July 1999 at the FBI's new facility in Clarksburg,
        West Virginia.

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