Developing Technology Standards

Developing standards, and testing equipment against the standards, ensures that public safety equipment meets minimum performance standards. To develop standards for commercially available public safety equipment, NIJ follows six basic steps:

1. Determine the needs of the criminal justice community and initiate development (see NIJ's Technology Research, Development, Testing and Evaluation Process).
2. Investigate existing recognized standards before creating a new standard. This step is conducted with the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Office of Law Enforcement Standards.
3. Examine equipment to identify minimum performance criteria.
4. Develop measurement tools, performance standards, operating procedures and equipment guidelines. 
5. Review and provide input to the standards. Many partners participate, including industry, public safety and laboratory representatives.
6. Publish and distribute the performance standards (NIJ).

Note: Typically, no federal or state requirements state that public safety equipment must be tested and approved before sale.

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