U.S. Department of Justice 
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services 

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www.cops.usdoj.gov

Fact Sheet 
Criminal Intelligence Systems Operating Policies

What are the Criminal Intelligence 
Systems Operating Policies? 

The Criminal Intelligence Systems Operating 
Policies described in 28 C.F.R. Part 23 direct 
that all interjurisdictional criminal 
intelligence systems operating through 
support under 42 U.S.C. 3711 (which the 
Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement 
Act of 1994 amends and under which all 
COPS grants are made) protect the privacy 
and constitutional rights of individuals. The 
guidelines include protections to prevent 
violations of individual privacy due to the 
negligent maintaining and sharing of criminal 
intelligence information between agencies. 
These policy standards are applicable to all 
interjurisdictional criminal intelligence 
systems operating with funding from the 
COPS Office. 

What is a Criminal Intelligence System? 

An “interjurisdictional criminal intelligence 
system” is generally defined as a system 
which receives, stores, analyzes, and 
exchanges or disseminates data regarding 
ongoing criminal activities (such activities 
may include, but are not limited to, loan 
sharking, drug or stolen property trafficking, 
gambling, extortion, smuggling, bribery, and 
public corruption) and shares this data with 
other law enforcement jurisdictions. 

What is Criminal Intelligence 
Information? 

Criminal Intelligence Information refers to 
data which has been evaluated to determine 
that it is relevant to the identification of and 
the criminal activity engaged in by an 
individual who (or organization/group which) 
is reasonably suspected of involvement in 
criminal activity and meets the criminal 
intelligence system submission criteria of 28 

C.F.R. Part 23. 

Examples of Criminal Intelligence Systems 
subject to 28 C.F.R. Part 23 include (but 
are not limited to): 

a) Systems that store detailed information on 
the criminal activities of subjects and are 
used to share this information with other 
jurisdictions; 

b) Systems which store only limited 
information designed to identify 
individuals or organizations which are the 
subject of an inquiry or analysis. These 
systems are commonly referred to as 
"pointer systems," which are defined as 
systems where interested agencies are 
placed in contact with each other for more 
detailed investigative information. 
Pointer information is information which 
identifies a particular individual or 
organization based on descriptive 
information about the subject suspected of 
criminal activity. Pointer information is 
then input into the database and can be 
used when an inquiry is requested to 
match subjects of investigation, and to put 
law enforcement agencies together so 
they can work a case in a coordinated 
manner. 


Examples of systems that are NOT subject to 
28 C.F.R. Part 23: 

a) Single agency systems where exchange or 
dissemination is only within the agency; 

b) Criminal history information or 
identification systems; 

c) Task force systems where the task force is 
operating pursuant to a formal agreement 
and where information exchange or 
dissemination does not go outside the task 
force. If the task force is formally 
organized by agency agreements and 
dissemination of information is restricted 
to only the agencies that are members of 
the task force, the criminal intelligence 
system is not subject to 28 C.F.R. Part 23. 

If my agency does operate a Criminal 
Intelligence System, what must we do to 
comply with our COPS grant requirements? 

If your agency receives funding from a COPS 
grant program that includes equipment funds, 
your agency must complete and sign a 28 
C.F.R. Part 23 Special Condition at the time 
of application. The Special Condition 
requires your agency to identify whether it 
will use the grant funds to operate an 
interjurisdictional criminal intelligence 
system. If so, your agency must also certify 
in the Special Condition that it will comply 
with the guidelines in 28 C.F.R. Part 23. The 
COPS Office may contact your agency 
during the grant implementation period to 
monitor its compliance with these guidelines. 

Contact COPS 

For more information, call the U.S. 
Department of Justice Response Center at 
1.800.421.6770, or visit the COPS website at: 
www.cops.usdoj.gov 

Updated September 05, 2002 
e09021706