Travel Journal: The IACP Annual Conference, Orlando

I just returned from the 117th International Associations of Chiefs of Police (IACP) conference in Orlando, FL.  The annual meeting brought together more than 13,000 law enforcement officials and leaders from around the globe to discuss the progress made in the past year and the challenges ahead.

Over the course of five days, I had the opportunity to talk with many of our partners from all levels of State, local, tribal and international law enforcement, and participated in nearly a dozen committee meetings, briefings and panels.  I shared with the attendees our desire to accelerate the delivery of the Information Sharing Environment and asked for their help and feedback on how best to achieve this.

We were also fortunate to hear from Vice President Biden, Attorney General Holder, DHS Secretary Napolitano and FBI Director Mueller about the Federal government's commitment to sharing critical information with State, local, and tribal entities.

Mark Marshall, the incoming president of the IACP, built his campaign around information sharing.  Chief Marshall and I met about four years ago, when we served on a panel together about law enforcement information sharing.  I talked about the NIEM program I was running at the time; he spoke about his experiences in making information sharing operationally relevant, how to work governance issues, and the importance of Federal, State, local and tribal partnerships.  I am delighted to have Chief Marshall as a partner as we accelerate the delivery of the ISE in the months and years ahead, and I thank him for his dedication to the mission.

Read more about the 2010 IACP Conference including speeches from Administration officials