The failure to actively engage these organizations earlier in the process has caused the project to be viewed with concern by these powerful national associations. To its credit, the FBI's CJIS staff has recently meet with both national law enforcement and industry groups to allow for their input prior to finalizing the concept of an operations document.

This document must set forth an unambiguous message to the law enforcement community about what N-DEx will and will not include if the Bureau wishes to prevent further confusion. Questions concerning the future of the Uniform Crime Reporting System (UCR) and the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) need to be answered, and cost projections for the program's implementation need to be provided. Lack of clarity on the future and interoperability among N-DEx, R-DEx, and NIEM should also be addressed.

A joint Position Statement dated August 15, 2005 was released by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National Sheriffs Association, the Major Cities Chiefs Association, and the Major County Sheriff's Association concerning the future of N-DEx.

While the associations indicated that they support the ability of law enforcement to share information between all levels of government, they stressed that the project's success is dependent upon the voluntary participation of the agencies. To achieve that support, the statement indicated that the N-DEx Program needed to ensure that law enforcement practitioners at every level participate in the system design, testing, and implementation.

The statement set forth three requirements for success:

• Development of a Statement of Requirements designed with local law enforcement input and utilization in mind. It recommends that the requirements should be validated through representatives of their associations and coordinated by the FBI CJIS Advisory Board (APB).
• After an agreed upon Statement of Requirements is completed, a Funding Projections document that reflects the costs for each phase of the project to the agencies needs to be prepared.
• Based upon the Statement of Requirements and Funding Projections, the FBI and the DOJ need to formalize a process that will result in a consistent message about the "Project's mission, goals, strategy, and status." The statement also indicated that the roles of each agency need to be documented to facilitate, "by-in" by all levels of law enforcement.

N-DEx, if properly implemented, would be a major step forward in improving information sharing among all levels of law enforcement. Its use as a tool for replacing and upgrading UCR and NIBRS is problematic and raises many issues concerning cost and participation. The process for designing and marketing it to the law enforcement community has been uneven, and its value undersold. The Bureau will need to win the support of the national law enforcement agencies and through them, the law enforcement community. Gaining their support will require the FBI to work in close collaboration with law enforcement in the design and implementation of the program. It also will need to work with the public safety software industry to build a cost-effective solution.