In 2008, in response to an increasing need for enhanced public safety and more efficient criminal justice information sharing, Connecticut initiated the development of a centralized system for all criminal justice–related data.

The Connecticut Information Sharing System (CISS) was designed to address critical gaps in communication and data sharing between criminal justice agencies. Unfortunately, the development of CISS was prompted by high-profile incidents, including the 2004 murder of Master Police Officer Peter J. Lavery and the 2007 Cheshire home-invasion murders, which brought national attention to the need for reform in criminal justice information sharing.

Before CISS, Connecticut’s criminal justice agencies, like most other states, operated in silos. Each agency and criminal justice partner maintained its own records management systems, which often led to inefficiencies and delays in the flow of critical information. A law passed in 2008 laid the legislative foundation for the creation of CISS. This legislation paved the way for a statewide information sharing system aimed at enhancing public safety by improving data integration and accessibility across all criminal justice agencies. The goal was to link not only police departments, but the information sharing would also extend to the courts, corrections, department of motor vehicles (DMV), and beyond to ensure decisions related to public safety were based on all relevant criminal justice data. The term “one-stop shop” was used to describe the expectations of this system.

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