1. Law Enforcement Information Exchange
Agency Training Program

2. What is LInX?
A cooperative regional approach to sharing law enforcement data among participating municipal, county, state and federal law enforcement agencies to reduce crime and impact on terrorism.
Provides all participants with daily & secure access to cross-jurisdictional law enforcement data:
Makes relevant data available in seconds
Generates investigative leads
Identifies previously unknown relationships/associates
Increases officer situational awareness and safety
LInX (Law Enforcement Information Exchange) is a cooperative regional approach to the sharing of law enforcement data among participating municipal, county, state, and federal law enforcement agencies to reduce crime and solve crimes.
The Rio Grande LInX Program is a joint initiative sponsored by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) of the U.S. Department of the Navy.
LInX is an advanced information sharing system and analytical data warehouse containing information from participating municipal, county, state and federal law enforcement agencies located within the boundaries of the regional LInX system.
Using a standard web browser, the system provides secure access to data provided by the participating federal, state, county and municipal law enforcement agencies. This combined law enforcement data is integrated on a daily basis and provides information about incidents across all of the participating jurisdictions.

3. User Access Requirements
Law Enforcement personnel only
Agency must have completed a thorough background investigation:
No felony convictions or outstanding warrants
18 years old or higher
User’s access can be suspended at any time
User must have read and accept all User Agreements located in the LInX Home Page under MY LInX, and attend a Basic User Training Class.
* Next courses will be offered near the end of May
In order to have access to LInX:
Users must be an employee of a participating law enforcement agency.
An agency cannot provide student interns or anyone else under 18 years old access to this system.
No classified information is contained in this system. The LInX system contains very sensitive law enforcement information but it is unclassified.
Users must read the Operational Policy and Rules and sign the User’s Agreement.
User access can be suspended or deleted at any time.

4. LInX Access, Usage, and Restrictions
Official, legitimate law enforcement purposes.
Background investigations of ONLY its own agency’s applicants/personnel – pointer only (requires verification with contributing agency).
Results of a query can only be shared with employees of the same agency:
Exception: Upon request of a non-participating agency for a legitimate law enforcement purpose involving an case of mutual interest. Result must ONLY be verbally summarized and a record must be kept of the disclosure (put name and agency in justification). No printed or downloaded copy of LInX data can be provided to another agency.
All member agencies can use LInX as a pointer only for background investigations of it’s OWN internal agency applicants upon agreement of the Governance Board. The agency cannot use LInX for background investigations for other agencies in their city, county or state.
Member agency users cannot share data found in LInX with non-member agencies.
Exception: If there is a joint task force investigation then a member agency user can only VERBALLY share summarized information to the non-member agency. A record of the disclosure must be kept in this case.
Example: If you are using LInX and are assigned to a joint Fugitive task force, you can only summarize verbally the information with the other law enforcement agencies that are a part of the same task force, but not members of LInX.
It is important to remember that you cannot run queries for a case that you are NOT officially working on individually or jointly. Information surfing is not allowed.
Also, corrections officers do not have access to LInX unless the officer is also a sworn law enforcement officer of a participating member agency.
Example: If a corrections officer is on a gang intelligence unit he still cannot have access to LInX if he is NOT a sworn law enforcement officer with law enforcement duties.
NO AGENCY’S RECORDS can be printed from the LInX System. No agency’s information may be used without the permission of the originating agency. A user MUST obtain a copy of the record from the originating agency.

5. LInX Data and Probable Cause
LInX data is derivative and does NOT constitute probable cause by itself.
Users must validate data accuracy – prior to taking any law enforcement / legal action.
Copies of reports must be obtained directly from contributing agency:
Users are authorized to temporarily print reports and photos on a limited basis.
Reports from the contributing agency will most likely have more information.
All LInX data is derivative in nature (a mirror image), and does NOT constitute official records and may not be used directly for probable cause or any action that would lead to court testimony by itself. Since the data is just a copy of each agency’s data, user MUST confirm data accuracy with the contributing agency PRIOR to taking any law enforcement or legal action that may result in court testimony.
Copies of the original report(s) MUST be obtained directly from the contributing agency records division.
Users are NOT authorized to print agency reports from LInX. Users may NOT print Photos or any other material from LInX. Users MUST obtain a copy of the original report or photo directly from the contributing agency. Keep in mind that almost always the paper copy of the report will have more information than what was entered into the electronic records management system. For example, some systems still do not have the capability of electronically capturing the report narratives or follow up investigations.

6. Rules of Operation Ownership of the Information Use for Probable Cause
Each agency controls all of their information in the system.
Use for Probable Cause
Must have original documents from the originating agency prior to using any information obtained through the LInX System for any proceedings requiring court testimony.
Validation
Any information intended for use must be validated through the originating agency for accuracy and completeness.
Each agency retains full ownership and control of their agency’s information that is contained in the LInX system. No other agency may change or delete any information contributed by another agency. In matters where information is found to be erroneous, the originating agency will have the responsibility of correcting he information or purging same from the system. Information in the LInX system may not be reproduced by any user.
The primary use of information by law enforcement involves the development of probable cause for arrests, searches and prosecutions. Prior to a system like LInX an investigator would contact individual agencies for information they may have on suspects, vehicles, addresses, etc. that could be used to enhance cases for arrests or searches. Traditionally these checks took a significant amount of time and effort and as such they were not a matter of routine by investigators. Through the use of the LInX system every agency’s information will be accessed in a matter of seconds for use by the investigators. Even though the information ay be accessed and viewed by any investigator the information may not be used prior to getting the approval of the originating agency. Much in the way business is currently being conducted, process will not change in that, once information has been located through the LInX system that information must be validated and verified by the originating agency prior to it being used.
If any document contained within the LInX system is to be used for supporting any type of judicial action where testimony will be required, the document must be obtained from the originating agency prior to that information being used. Thus, information contained in the LInX system may not be reproduced by any agency or user. Please refer to the document entitled Rules of Operation for further details.

7. Rules of Operation Justification
To meet CJIS requirements, the justification (reason) for the inquiry must be entered.
Follow same procedure as for a criminal history check.
Should be sufficient to refresh the memory of the person
making the inquiry as to why the inquiry was made. 7 7

8. Intelligence
The LInX System contains only law enforcement investigative information obtained from existing police records management systems.
The system does not contain law enforcement intelligence records.
The system was built fully compliant with 28CFR Part 23 to ensure it meets any users requirements for systems that it connects to.
The LInX system is not intended for the storage or analysis of any level of law enforcement intelligence data or information.
The system requirements are to address the operational and investigative needs of the users through the merging of all available law enforcement incident and investigative records. The merging of intelligence and investigative information in the same system creates a new system of records that must be declared and registered. Supporting a system that contains derivative law enforcement records from existing agency RMS does not have the same requirements.
The system was built to be fully compliant with 28 CFR Part 23, since agencies will be connecting to the data warehouse through systems that were built using DOJ funds and who must meet those requirements.

9. Audit Policy Audits are required for: Security compliance
Compliance with all laws
Proper system functionality
Ensure all policies are appropriate, up to date and being followed
Ensure all users & user accounts are authorized and up to date
To discover any possible misconduct.
There will be Audits (internal audits, as well as Rio Grande LInX audits) to ensure that the system is being used ONLY for legitimate law enforcement purposes.

10. Law Enforcement Information Exchange (LInX)
LInx Regions
Hawaii LInX
14 law enforcement agencies
31 Million records
National Capital Region
193 participating agencies
300 Million records
DDEX; ICEPIC; NDEX
Rio Grande LInX
43 participating NM agencies
El Paso SO and PD are included
California LInX
76 law enforcement agencies
173 Million records
D-DEX; ICEPIC; N-DEX; SBC Coplink
Carolinas LInX
393 participating agencies
190 Million records
Includes both North and South Carolina
Northeast LInX CT. RI, ME agencies
Northwest LInX: Washington/Oregon/Alaska
311 law enforcement agencies participating
189 Million records
DDEX, ICEPIC; NDEX participation
Virginia LInX
223 law enforcement agencies
197 Million records
DDEX, NDEX
Southeast (Florida/Georgia) LInX
95 law enforcement agencies
231 Million records
Gulf Coast LInX
42 law enforcement agencies
Connections to Houston PD & Harris County SO
Border initiative with CPB & ICE in Laredo, TX
Midwest LInX (New)
Chicago PD and area
Fed LInX (New)
USMS and other federal agencies
Rocky Mountain LInX (New)
Law Enforcement Information Exchange (LInX)

11. LInX / D-DEx Regional Map 2015
Catherine to mention that this map shows all of the LInX Regions with the darker blue showing local data sharing and the striped areas showing state data sharing.
LInX Regions Governance Meeting – October 2015
Slide 11

12. D-DEx Status All DOD Law Enforcement Agencies provide data
The most recent addition is Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Police
Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) is in process
Newest member is US Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS)
Navy Law Enforcement CAD Data
Kris Peterson to provide the D-DEx Status
Slide 12

13. LInX / N-DEx Status
Catherine to review the Regions which are sending a copy of law enforcement data from their LInX Regions into NDEx.
The data currently being sent from these Regions include Incident data, Arrest data, and Citations. We are working to send Booking data with mugshots, computer aided dispatch data, and field interviews.
N-DEx now has 350,000 Gulf Coast LInX records and have started an analysis of those records compared to what is being sent to N-DEx by Texas TDEX.
N-DEx also has approvals from Rhode Island and Illinois CSOs and connectivity is underway for users at both sites. They are getting close to being approved by the Colorado CSO.
N-DEx is still waiting on the Florida approval for the new FL Regional LInX site and the Connecticut CSO approval. They will begin discussions with Maine and New Hampshire CSOs soon.
Updated as of Oct 2015
LInX Regions Governance Meeting – October 2015
Slide 13

15. Alexandria Police Department Server-Server Authentication
LE Users
Alexandria Police Department
NCIS
CountySO
LInX Data
Warehouse
Oracle 9I / 10G
Entity Extraction, Ontology, Free Text Retrieval
Fuzzy Name Search
Web Logic Query tool
Link Analysis
SFTP Server
Data is accessed by the users
from a web browser using SSL
256 bit encryption
City PD
Login & password required
State Police
Firewall
What is unique to the LInX system is the use of the “front porch” concept. The front porch is another name for a data mart or intermediate server that is placed between the central data warehouse and the agency records management system (RMS). The placement of the front porch in this configuration gives LInX the ability to connect to any type of RMS, normalize the data from that system and successfully incorporate it into the data warehouse with all of the other agencies’ data. The front porch also provides a very secure means to connect an agencies RMS with an outside data warehouse or information system.
To insure that a query made returns all of the possible information and not only that information that exactly matched the parameters of the query, all of the data that is moved from an agency RMS to the data warehouse is normalized to NCIC standards prior to it being forwarded from the front porch to the warehouse.
Normalizing the data to NCIS standards is referring to a process where the different way data is stored in an RMS is converted to a standard that has been set by NCIC to make sure it all matches. By way of example, an RMS may store the term white as white; wht; W; .01, etc. If all of these were just forwarded to the warehouse a query would never return the information from all of the varied systems contributing to the warehouse since computers need exact matches to give results. A query made on a local multi-agency system not standardizing the data showed a response where the term white; wht and w were used and the responses from the system were different each time the term was changed with 38 hits on white; 8 hits on wht; 3 hits for W, and none of the responses from the same system were the same. This normalization method allows LInX to give the most reliable and complete returns to the user as possible in any computerized system available.
The method for the normalization of the data plus some technical methods of dealing with names and concepts, gives the user the ability to apply analytical tools to the data and get results that actually can connect the dots for criminal and terrorism related investigations, as well as provide a valuable tactical capability for the operational users.
SFTP / Front Porch
1024 bit encryption
Server-Server Authentication
LE DATA
Arrest Records
Investigations
Traffic Reports
CAD Data
Booking Records
Warrants
Dell 6650 Servers with Applications
Firewall
Agency
RMS System
Data is pushed
to the Front Porch
then into LInX Data Warehouse using Server-Server authentication
LInX LE Agency

16. Types of Data in LInX
Law Enforcement RMS data: (Structured & Unstructured)
Incident structured data
Incident narratives and supplemental reports
Investigative reports
Field interviews/Suspicious incidents
Arrests
Warrants
Mugshots
Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) data (traffic stops)
The LInX system is an incident based, person-centric system. This means that all results to queries are presented to the user as persons involved in the event. The types of data in the system include:
Incidents
Incident narratives and supplemental reports
Investigative reports
Field Interviews
Suspicious incidents
Arrests
Warrants
Mugshots
CAD – mainly traffic stops
Accidents
Data from each member agency is dependent on what is electronically available in their records management system and what they have agreed to share. Not all fields for each event are fully populated in an agency’s records management system, as such some levels of information will not be available in LInX.
Juvenile data is in the LInX system from the New Mexico agencies, but not El Paso. TX agencies
NOTE THAT THE SYSTEM DOES NOT AND WILL NOT CONTAIN ANY INFORMATION THAT MAY BE DEFINED AS INTELLIGENCE.
This includes but is not limited to DMV data; personal 3rd party information; etc.

17. LInX Governance Board
Every agency Chief, Sheriff or SAC is on the Board;
The Board runs the LInX System;
Membership to LInX is up to the Board.
All Board members have an equal participation and authority regardless of the size of the department or agency jurisdiction;
The Board establishes all of the operational policies, rules and oversight.
The LInX system is controlled by the Governance Board and the Governance Executive Committee.
The Board consists of the Chief, Sheriff, SAC or Executive of all of the participating agencies. The decisions of the Board are gained through a majority vote by the agency executives with a one agency one vote process. Even though NCIS has funded and developed the LInX system the control of the system falls to the Board, with all of the decisions being made by the Board binding on the project.
The MOU, Rules of Operation, the Security Policy, Standard Operating Procedures, as well as any other official policies and documents governing the use of the system are approved by the Board prior to implementation.
Once approved by the Board all policies are binding to all participating agencies with respect to the use of the LInX System only. 18 18

18. Login and Password Details

19. What is Needed Internet Access CA URL: https://www.linxca.us/Linx
HI URL:
RM URL:

20. Password Rules Passwords are CASE Sensitive
Minimum of fourteen (14) characters and Maximum of twenty (20) characters with at least two of the following:
Upper case
Lowercase
Numeric
Special Characters (such as #)
The Password Rules follow the security accreditation. The password has to be at least 8 characters and has to include at least three (3) of the following:
- Uppercase letters
- Lower case letters
- Numeric
- Special characters (such as #)
Some recommend that you come up with your password, capitalize the first letter, and then add a number at the end of the password.

21. Password Failures
If you FAIL three times in succession, the system will be put in a 5 minute timeout
If you FAIL another three times in succession, the system will disable your account.
See your Agency System Administrator to have your password reset
If you fail logging into LInX three times in a row, the system will put you in a 5 minute timeout. Even if the administrator resets your password, you cannot logging in again for at least 5 minutes.
If you fail another three times in a row, the system will “disable” your account. You will need to contact your agency administrator to have your user account “re-enabled” and a new temporary password will be set.

22. Dual Login Dual Logins NOT allowed
The system will not let a user log in to the system multiple times. The system will give you an error message.

23. Inactivity
Automatically Logoff after 15 minutes of inactivity per Security Requirements
Inactivity means
Not clicking from one screen to another
Not clicking from one tab to another in results
Scrolling through a document is NOT activity in the system
The system will automatically log off a user after 15 minutes of inactivity as required for the security accreditation.
Inactivity means
* Not clicking from one screen to another
* Not clicking from one tab to another in search results
* It is important to remember that when you are reviewing documents in free text search or long narratives that clicking on the scroll buttons is not considered activity by the system.

24. LInX Contact Info
Kimberly A. Usrey
Co-Project Manager
(cell)