National Data Exchange (N-DEx)

Overview

N-DEx is an unclassified national information sharing system that enables criminal justice agencies to search, link, analyze, and share local, state, tribal, and federal records.

• No fee
• Available 24/7
• Easy web-based access
• N-DEx contains incident, arrest, and booking reports; pretrial investigations; supervised released reports; calls for service; photos; and field contact/identification records.
  

Why N-DEx?

N-DEx complements other well-known FBI systems, such as the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), Interstate Identification Index (III), and Next Generation Identification (NGI) that provide critical information to the criminal justice community. The information that would not be contained in those systems, i.e., incident and case reports, full Department of Justice (DOJ) case files, and corrections data, is available in N-DEx. N-DEx fills information gaps and provides situational awareness.

Benefits 

N-DEx, a national database of criminal justice records, benefits professionals throughout the criminal justice community, including:

• Analysts
• Corrections investigators
• Detectives
• Patrol officers
• Pre-trial, parole, and probation officers
• Regional dispatchers

Analysts: Connecting the Dots

With N-DEx, analysts have access to the criminal justice records of thousands of agencies across the nation to link investigative information and quickly obtain more detailed reports. Additionally, N-DEx provides visualization tools to graphically depict associations between people, places, things, and events either on a link-analysis chart or on a map. For ongoing investigations, the subscription and notification feature automatically notifies analysts if other users are searching for the same criteria or if a new record concerning their investigation is added to the system. N-DEx allows analysts to work with other analysts across the nation in a collaborative environment that instantly and securely shares pertinent information, including images, videos, charts, graphs, notes, and case reports, via any type or size of file.

Corrections Investigators: Improving Inmate Management

Corrections investigators can use N-DEx to enhance their knowledge and understanding of inmates. N-DEx helps discover links and associations among inmates and visitors and offers information about an inmate’s visitor and mailing lists. By searching criminal justice agencies’ records when conducting pre-release investigations, N-DEx can serve to help make informed decisions with regard to inmate classification and release planning.

Detectives: Linking Investigations

N-DEx provides detectives with immediate access to criminal justice records from thousands of agencies across the nation. Users can view incident reports, arrest reports, booking and incarceration reports, pre-trial investigations, and probation and parole records. The N-DEx collaboration tool, which allows users to invite authorized members from other agencies to view and share information in a safe and secure online environment, enables users to team up with other investigators to quickly and securely share pertinent information, including images, videos, charts, graphs, notes, case reports, etc. Visualization tools graphically depict associations between people, places, things, and events on link-analysis charts or maps. With the subscription and notification feature, detectives are notified if other users are searching for the same criteria or if a new record related to one of their investigations enters the system.

Patrol Officers: Preparing for Encounters

N-DEx immediately provides a snapshot of an encountered person--criminal records, associations, identifiers, and photographs. A search of N-DEx returns results that include any and all related information found within the nationwide system. The N-DEx Integrated Person Entity View gathers information from all of these records and presents it in an easy to read format, allowing the patrol officer to quickly view all related reports and narratives as a single document. A search of an address will alert the officer if past interactions with the criminal justice community have occurred.

Pre-trial, Probation, and Parole Officers: Enhancing Supervision Efforts

N-DEx gives pre-trial/probation/parole officers information on previously unknown relationships among their clients, allowing more effective client monitoring. It also allows officers to be quickly notified when a client has any form of contact with law enforcement, and to learn when law enforcement has an interest in their client. Through a subscription feature, N-DEx brings together officers whose cases somehow intersect. With N-DEx, officers realize the previously unavailable advantage of collaborating with thousands of participating agencies and their investigators, which serve as additional eyes and ears for the officer. N-DEx returns search results regarding all manner of a client’s interaction with criminal justice agencies, not simply arrest reports.

Regional Dispatchers: Increasing Officer Safety

By using N-DEx, dispatchers can learn what other agencies know about the individuals their officers are about to encounter. When a patrol officer is on the way to an address, dispatchers can quickly search N-DEx to learn what other activity has happened at and/or near that address. An N-DEx search returns results that include any and all related information found within the nationwide system. And the N-DEx Integrated Person Entity View gathers information from all of these records and presents it in an easy to read manner, allowing dispatchers to quickly view all related reports and narratives as a single document, saving time and providing the responding officer with a clear and concise background prior to arriving on scene.