Three States Selected to Develop Privacy Policies for Their Justice Information Sharing Programs

WASHINGTON—The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) today selected three states – Alabama, Hawaii and Illinois – to participate in a policy academy that will assist states in developing a privacy policy for their justice information sharing programs.

The Policy Academy on Privacy Policy Development for Justice Information Sharing Programs (Academy) will help selected states develop or expand upon an existing privacy policy within their justice information sharing programs. For this effort the Academy will use Global's Privacy and Civil Liberties Policy Development Guide and Implementation Templates as a roadmap. The U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance will provide support for this project through the NGA Center.

"A key objective of the Academy is to help these states create a seamless system to share justice information across agencies while adhering to privacy protections," said John Thomasian, director of the NGA Center for Best Practices. "The NGA Center will share the lessons learned from this effort with other states so they can apply certain aspects for their own privacy policy development."

Major improvements in justice information sharing now allow criminal and civil justice records to be shared, synthesized and analyzed at speeds and with an ease not previously imagined. Unfortunately, in addition to many public safety benefits, these improvements can have unintended consequences as the sharing of information concerning victims, witnesses, intelligence sources, law enforcement agencies, courts and other justice personnel potentially expose them to harm if privacy safeguards are inadequate.

The primary objective of a privacy policy is to publicly demonstrate how an agency intends to abide by existing laws while handling personally identifiable information. Privacy policies should address how a justice entity intends to deal with gaps or vulnerabilities in existing laws.

For more information go to www.nga.org/center/hst.

###

Founded in 1908, the National Governors Association (NGA) is the collective voice of the nation's governors and one of Washington, D.C.'s most respected public policy organizations. Its members are the governors of the 50 states, three territories and two commonwealths. NGA provides governors and their senior staff members with services that range from representing states on Capitol Hill and before the Administration on key federal issues to developing and implementing innovative solutions to public policy challenges through the NGA Center for Best Practices. For more information, go to www.nga.org.