Volume 3, Issue 3	NDPIX  NEWS	July 1 , 2002

Participation in NDPIX

U.S. Customs Service Joins NDPIX

The U.S. Customs Service (USCS) has begun participation in NDPIX and is submitting its drug targets via the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (NLETS). The addition of USCS targets to the NDPIX database will significantly increase the number of record match notifications.

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has held a series of planning sessions with the NDPIX Staff of the Drug Enforcement Administration regarding FBI participation in NDPIX. The FBI has already submitted targets on a test basis.

State and Local Law Enforcement

The Maryland State Police (MSP) has discontinued its statewide Drug Enforcement Coordinating System (DECS) and is now using the NDPIX. Local Maryland law enforcement agencies, which had been submitting its records to the DECS, are now scheduled to submit their targets directly to the NDPIX. The NDPIX Staff is now working with the MSP on the conversion of its DECS files for submission to the NDPIX.

Florida and Tennessee have upgraded their state message switches and are now capable of handling NDPIX transactions. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) has begun high volume entry to the NDPIX and reports receiving telephone calls from DEA agents on FDLE targets that the NDPIX matched to DEA targets.

Regional Systems

The Regional Information Sharing Systems (RISS) program, funded by the United States Department of Justice, has six regional information centers. The centers facilitate interagency sharing of criminal intelligence, and the coordination of law enforcement efforts against criminal networks that operate across jurisdictional lines.

A RISS.NET serves each of the regional centers and all are linked together to facilitate data sharing nationwide. Typical targets of RISS activity are drug trafficking, violent crime, gang activity, and organized crime.

The RISS program and the NDPIX share common goals and serve many of the same agencies. An exchange of data between the two would enhance the investigative capabilities of the participants of both entities.

Mrs. Judith E. Bertini, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Intelligence, Office of Policy and Management, met with George March, the RISS Director of Information Technology, on March 4, 2002, to discuss these possibilities. Both acknowledge the positive role that the NDPIX could play in long-term RISS plans and further agreed that analysis of the various possible approaches and coordination with interested parties was necessary before any specific planning could begin.

HIDTA

The High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) program is planning the development of a national information exchange system that, as a peripheral benefit, would enable data exchange with NDPIX. Mrs. Bertini has met with HIDTA officials to explore these possibilities.

Special Agent Blue Richards, Unit Chief of the NDPIX Staff, met with Larry Burnett, Director of the Hawaii HIDTA, in Honolulu. As one result of the Hawaii meetings, the Hawaii HIDTA committed to using the message switch of the Western States Information Network (WSIN) for its communication with the NDPIX.

State Message Switch Systems Capable of Processing NDPIX Transactions

Record Purges/Record Renewals

The NDPIX Steering Committee, representing the national law enforcement community, developed the Concept of Operations for the NDPIX. The committee directed that the NDPIX serve as a pointer system, contain information only on subjects of active drug cases, and furthermore, should not serve as an intelligence system. The system, therefore, retains records for no longer than 180 days and purges those that exceed the limit. Records may be updated or renewed whenever necessary. When updated or renewed, the 180-day clock begins again.

NDPIX notifies record owners 30 days and 15 days prior to scheduled purges to give record owners the opportunity to renew their active targets for an additional 180 days and sends final notifications following the actual purges.

Since early March 2002, the NDPIX has purged 1,196 records that had been in the database over 180 days and, during this time, record owners have renewed 425 records that would have been purged. This renewal of over 26% of records scheduled for purging points to the value that NDPIX participants assign to their NDPIX targets.

Comments/Responses

Please direct your comments and suggestions on NDPIX, or the NDPIX NEWS, to Tricia Gosby or Mitch Morris, Editors, NDPIX NEWS, Intelligence Division, Drug Enforcement Administration, Washington, D.C. 20537.

Success Stories

We are also interested in publishing stories on investigative successes resulting from NDPIX provided leads.

NDPIX Support

NDPIX Program Manager
Judith E. Bertini, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Intelligence
Office of Police and Management

NDPIX Staff
Intelligence Division
Drug Enforcement Administration
Washington, DC 20537
(202) 307-8430 or 1 800 276-5558

Unit Chief
Special Agent H. Blue Richards

Contacts for State/ Local Agencies:

Team 1.
Mina Hunter (202) 307-3648
mhunter@dialup.usdoj.gov

Team 2.
Patricia Gosby (202) 307-3604
pgosby@dialup.usdoj.gov

Team 3.
Jennifer Gabriel (202) 353-1064
jgabriel@dialup.usdoj.gov