Further, CJIS relies on the CSAs to audit all LEAs that enter data into  NCIC in each state, to help ensure compliance among all NCIC users. CJIS Has Disseminated Guidelines for Timely Entry into NCIC, but Establishing Minimum Standards for CSA Audits and Assessing Adherence to Standards Could Strengthen CJIS’s Oversight

		CJIS and the Board Have Taken Steps to Help Ensure Compliance with the 2-hour Requirement and CJIS Has Issued Audit Recommendations to Non-Compliant CSAs

CJIS and the Board have taken a number of steps to help ensure that LEAs  implement the 2-hour entry requirement. Responding officers did not provide the information on the missing child  in a timely manner. However, the  Board has not taken steps to establish audit standards that require CSAs to  assess compliance with the 2-hour entry requirement. In the absence of standards, we found that audit approaches used by the 6  selected CSAs to assess compliance with the 2-hour entry requirement  varied. The number of missing children  records reviewed ranged from all active records in one state to no records  in another. The fact that CSAs were not consistently applying the 2-hour  criterion to review a sample of missing children records raises questions  about the reliability of CSA information on LEA compliance. For example, in 2006, NCMEC  and the International Association of Chiefs of Police, with funding from  OJJDP, developed a model missing children’s policy for law enforcement  agencies, which agencies could use to establish guidelines and  responsibilities for agency personnel in responding to reports of missing  children. Officials from the three child welfare agencies we contacted in three of the  four states where LEA officials reported challenges in coordinating with  child welfare agencies noted that in some cases, foster-care group homes  may not have the information law enforcement needs to enter reports of  missing children into NCIC, but stated that this situation does not occur  very frequently. DOJ, NCMEC, and the Child Welfare League of America have taken steps  to try to assist LEAs and child welfare agencies in addressing these issues. The guidance states that  collaboration between LEAs and child welfare agencies is necessary to  ensure that children missing from care are reported to law enforcement,  and provides a sample self-assessment for LEAs to use to help them  develop policies and procedures to enhance LEAs’ responses to children  missing from care. Existing CJIS and OJJDP Mechanisms Could Be Useful for Collecting and Sharing Information about LEA Challenges to Timely Reporting

The fact that officials from eight of the nine LEAs we contacted reported  facing challenges entering missing children information into NCIC within 2  hours due to custody disputes and coordination with child welfare  agencies—even in the context of efforts by DOJ to develop and  disseminate guidance regarding these issues—raises questions about the  extent to which LEAs are well-positioned to comply with the 2-hour entry  requirement. DOJ does not know the extent to which the challenges we identified in our  LEA interviews exist across all LEAs. However, there are other  existing CJIS and OJJDP mechanisms that could be useful for collecting  and sharing information about LEA challenges to timely reporting and the  ways in which some LEAs have successfully addressed these challenges. For example, the CJIS Advisory Policy Board’s working groups and  subcommittees and CJIS’s voluntary annual training for representatives of  all CSAs and selected LEAs in each state could be useful for obtaining  information on the extent and severity of challenges faced by LEAs. Using existing CJIS and OJJDP mechanisms to (1) obtain  information on the extent to which LEAs face the types of challenges we  identified, as well as other challenges that may be prevalent or significant  and (2) share examples of LEA-reported successes to mitigating the  challenges, could better position DOJ to carry out its oversight role over  NCIC with respect to helping ensure compliance with the 2-hour  requirement. Such  minimum standards could better position CSAs to design audits of LEAs to  obtain more consistent and reliable information on LEA compliance with  the requirement. Recommendations for Executive Action

We are making the following three recommendations:  To increase the likelihood that CJIS is positioned to oversee compliance  with the requirement that LEAs enter records of missing children into  NCIC within 2 hours, we recommend that the Director of the FBI direct  CJIS to consider:  In collaboration with CSAs and the Board, establishing minimum  standards that provide CSAs guidance on assessing compliance with  timely entry requirements, including applying the 2-hour criterion and how  to sample missing children records; and    Ensuring that in future triennial audits, CJIS assesses the extent to which  CSA audit programs adhere to the minimum standards. To increase the likelihood that LEAs are better positioned to comply with  the requirement to enter missing children records into NCIC within 2  hours, we recommend that the Director of the FBI and the Administrator  of OJJDP consider opportunities to use existing mechanisms to obtain  information on the extent to which LEAs face challenges—such as  custodial determinations and coordination with child welfare agencies—in  reporting missing children to NCIC, and share examples of successful  efforts to mitigate these challenges.
Why GAO Did This Study

Missing children who are not found quickly are at an increased risk of victimization. The National Child Search Assistance Act, as amended, requires that within 2 hours of receiving a missing child report, law enforcement agencies (LEAs) enter the report into the Department of Justice's (DOJ) National Crime Information Center (NCIC), a clearinghouse of information instantly available to LEAs nationwide. DOJ's Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS), the CJIS Advisory Policy Board (the Board), and state criminal justice agencies share responsibility for overseeing this requirement. As requested, GAO examined (1) CJIS's and the Board's efforts to implement and monitor compliance with the requirement; and (2) selected LEA-reported challenges with timely entry and DOJ's actions to assist LEAs in addressing them. GAO reviewed documents, such as agency guidelines, and interviewed officials from DOJ, six state criminal justice agencies, and nine LEAs selected in part based on missing children rates. The results are not generalizable to all states and LEAs, but provided insights on this issue.

What GAO Found

CJIS and the Board have taken steps to help ensure implementation of the 2-hour entry rule, but could strengthen their oversight to better assure compliance with the rule. Starting in 2007, CJIS: (1) informed all state criminal justice agencies that LEAs will have 2 hours to enter reports of missing children into NCIC once they have collected the required data (e.g., child's biographical information); (2) provided guidance on how LEAs could document compliance with the rule; and (3) informed state criminal justice agencies that the Board had authorized CJIS to begin assessing compliance with the rule in audits starting in 2009. To help ensure compliance among all NCIC users, CJIS and the Board require state criminal justice agencies to audit all LEAs in the state that enter data into NCIC. However, CJIS and the Board have not taken steps to establish minimum audit standards for state criminal justice agencies to use in assessing LEAs' compliance with the 2-hour rule. In the absence of such standards, the selected six state criminal justice agencies GAO contacted used varied approaches to assess LEAs' compliance. For example, two were not using the 2-hour criterion, and the number of missing children records the six agencies reviewed to assess timeliness ranged from all records in one state to no records in another. The fact that the state agencies did not consistently apply the 2-hour criterion to review a sample of missing children records raises questions about the reliability of the information the agencies collect on LEA compliance. Establishing minimum standards for state agency audits could help provide CJIS with reasonable assurance that the audits contain reliable information on LEA compliance. Officials from eight of nine LEAs GAO contacted reported challenges to entering information on missing children into NCIC within 2 hours; CJIS and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) could use existing mechanisms to obtain and share information on challenges. Seven LEAs reported challenges determining whether a child is missing when there are custodial disputes. Six LEAs reported challenges obtaining information from child welfare agencies on missing children in the child welfare system. Officials from child welfare agencies in areas where LEAs reported this challenge said that they may not always have the information LEAs need, and are taking steps to ensure timely communication between their staff and LEAs. In association with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and other stakeholders, in 2006 OJJDP developed (1) a model policy stating that LEAs will accept reports of missing children even when custody has not been established and (2) sample self-assessments so LEAs could enhance their responses to missing children in the child welfare system. However, eight of the nine LEAs stated that these challenges persist. DOJ does not know the extent of these challenges across all LEAs and has limited capability to conduct such an assessment. By using existing CJIS and OJJDP mechanisms--such as CJIS's training for state agencies and OJJDP-funded training for LEAs--to obtain information on the extent to which LEAs face these and other challenges and provide examples of how some LEAs have mitigated the challenges, DOJ could be better positioned to carry out its oversight of NCIC with respect to assuring compliance with the 2-hour rule.

What GAO Recommends

GAO recommends that CJIS and the Board consider establishing minimum standards for states to use to monitor compliance with the 2-hour rule and CJIS and OJJDP use existing mechanisms to obtain and share information on LEA challenges and successful efforts to mitigate them. DOJ concurred.