Homeland Security Information Network - Law Enforcement

The Homeland Security Information Network (HSIN) provides law enforcement officials at every level of government with a means to collaborate securely with partners across geographic and jurisdictional boundaries. For example, law enforcement organizations commonly use HSIN during operations focused on weapons smuggling, narcotics trafficking and gang mitigation.

Law enforcement professionals also use HSIN to share information including Be on the Lookouts (BOLOs), Requests for Information (RFIs), For Your Information (FYIs), Intelligence Reports and other Law Enforcement Sensitive documents. HSIN allows users to create and distribute messages to large, mission-specific contact lists. This rapid, secure information exchange provides law enforcement professionals with critical intelligence as they conduct work in the field.

Learn more by reading the annual reports, fact sheets, and case studies.

Sharing Information

HSIN 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 also to 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.