In the past several years, the justice and public safety communities have been faced with major cases involving individuals on parole or on probation. One example is the murder of Eve Carson, student body president of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where two individuals on probation were arrested for the crime. Officers need this critical corrections information and images on the street to quickly identify these individuals. In most jurisdictions, officers and investigators have no easy access to any corrections data.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics special report “Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 1994,” an estimated 67.5 percent of released prisoners were arrested for a felony or a serious misdemeanor within three years. Corrections photos and inmate information provide tremendous benefits to law enforcement agencies since, in many cases, the images provide the most current appearance available for individuals that are highly likely to come into contact with officers. The International Justice and Public Safety Network (Nlets) has undertaken a project called Nlets Interstate Sharing of Photos (NISP) to facilitate sharing of images among law enforcement communities in participating states.