When it comes to sharing data, public safety agencies have a history of not playing well together in the same sand box, said Kevin Mergruen, vice president of public sector for Information Builders Inc., parent company of iWay Software, which developed the iWay Integrated Justice Suite.

Law enforcement and justice agencies have traditionally focused on upgrading their own systems whenever funding was available. But the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice and the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) have been trying to change that mindset. The trio has provided funding, standards and directives to help agencies share data and wring more value out of their aging computer systems.

NASCIO helped set up an integrated justice framework that involves 18 scenarios -- everything from arrests to courts to corrections, Mergruen said.

Each state now has a criminal justice information system executive working to address their needs and facilitate the flow of information across jurisdictions.

The Department of Justice took the lead by creating the Global Justice XML data format. "If they had asked all the agencies to use the same system, they would have gotten incredible pushback," Mergruen noted. "But this just requires that they create an information packet and convert it to Global Justice XML. Then the receiving agency can convert it back to their legacy system format. No one has to change an existing system. It's a core benefit of this approach."