Homeland Security Information Network - Law Enforcement Mission

Law Enforcement officers are sworn to protect and serve law-abiding citizens and to uphold and enforce the laws that fall within their jurisdictions. Complicating these missions are the dangers that they face each and every day in the field. Criminals, whether traditional or cyber, threaten United States citizens twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

One of the major goals of the Homeland Security Information Network (HSIN) is to support the missions of federal, state and local law enforcement officers across the country by providing them with a secure and collaborative information sharing environment where they can share critical information to help keep our communities safe.

Sharing Information

The Homeland Security Information Network is the tool used to incorporate small agencies into the information and collaboration arena. Local and small agencies interact with the public in the communities they patrol on a daily basis. HSIN can provide agencies with the tools and resources necessary for developing gathering, accessing, receiving and sharing information.

Sharing information is critical, not only to homeland security, but security in public safety. The key issue is having access to information that will allow law enforcement officers to do a more effective job. HSIN stands ready to provide those capabilities as a tool to leverage information sharing and enhanced cooperation among different levels of law enforcement. HSIN can and should be used as a road map to ensure and promote better information sharing among law enforcement communities across the country.

As a prevention and response mechanism to potential criminal threats and other critical incidents, the HSIN platform provides increased situational awareness to law enforcement via:

• DHS Situational Awareness Tool
• Real-Time collaboration and Instant Messaging
• A Document Library with daily and periodic reporting from federal, state, and local law enforcement sources
• User and “Train-the-Trainer” instruction

National Response Framework

HSIN supports the National Response Framework by providing the ability to track deployed teams and resource utilization, pass and share geospatial information with street-level maps and imagery, and post Requests for Information (RFIs) and For Your Information (FYIs). State Law Enforcement Fusion Centers use HSIN as the primary collaboration tool to communicate with the Department of Homeland Security.