Nlets is a truly beneficial resource that may be utilized by law enforcement professionals to aid in the investigative procedure. Unfortunately, not every agency is familiar with the ways that Nlets can assist them in their mission. Or if they are, are only familiar with the most used queries done through Nlets making it very much underutilized. This webinar aims to raise awareness of the many different ways that Nlets can be a valuable partner in accomplishing the goals of the whole criminal justice profession.

This session’s instructors are Matt Butler and Jennifer Viets. Matt is the Operations Services Manager for Nlets where he is responsible for working with end-users to troubleshoot message delivery and consistency and manage their analysts to monitor and maintain the Nlets network. Meanwhile, Jennifer is the Criminal Justice Information Network Program Manager at the Montana Department of Justice and the Nlets Representative for the state of Montana.

Specifics of their discussion include:

• An overview of Nlets: What it is, their mission, and how their work intersects with the NCIC.
• The Nlets Service center, how it assists law enforcement agencies, and top-line statistics of the service that they provide.
• What message keys are, how they are used, and some of law enforcement’s most used message keys.
• The value in sending queries to a destination code of a “NA” to get border crossing responses from Nlets.
• The reason why some message keys aren’t used as extensively in specific jurisdictions.
• Some of the least used yet helpful message keys to familiarize with to enhance the investigation process, the justice agencies that widely utilize these, and case examples of how these are being leveraged.
  • NDPIX: How it streamlines interagency drug trafficking information sharing and how to participate with NDPIX via Nlets.
  • Wildlife Violation And License Files that shares hunting and fishing permits and violations information, the data required to run a query, and the information returned as response.
  • Interpol queries for stolen travel documents and stolen vehicles and how these are being utilized by authorities.
  • Parole, Probation, and Corrections Transactions used to obtain state information on individuals’ involvement with these branches and how law enforcement benefit from these data.
  • The Law Enforcement Information Sharing Service which facilitates prompt access and exchange of information relating to immigration and customs across all levels of law enforcement.
  • Boat query, snowmobile registration query, and license plate registration query that helps identify the vessels and vehicles that are subject for investigation.
  • Aircraft registration query which uses the N-tail number, aircraft serial number, or registered owner’s name to identify an aircraft.
  • Railroad crossing query that returns emergency contact information to connect with the railroad company and potentially stop a train from closing into a specific crossing.
  • The National Insurance Crime Bureau query that utilizes the VIN to access impound, stolen vehicle, vehicle salvage, and vehicle shipping records, as well as vehicle insurance claims, key code transactions, vehicle lien information, and rental fleet data.
• The Nlets Service Center’s Rand Log Searches which allow to access Nlets logs.

Questions from the webinar participants are about:

• Getting in touch with your Nlets representative.
• How Nlets can assist Adult Protective Services investigators and other non-law enforcement agencies.
• Requesting access to Nlets.
• Using state or regional codes when running a query to limit the scope of the responses.
• How far back Nlets records go.
• Resources for all of the available message keys that may be used with Nlets.
• The benefit of using the destination code “NA” in the queries.
• Accessing past search history through the Rand Log Searches.
• Accessing health insurance information.
• Obtaining names of individuals crossing the borders.
• Using NL and Z1 designations.

Other Webinars with this Organization:

• July 29: Alarm Calls for Service
• Sept 28: The Law Enforcement Digital Evidence Lifecycle: from Intake to Expungement 
• Oct 21: Empowering Information Sharing: The Rise of NIEM  
• Jan 27:  Support Your Officers on the Street by Leveraging the Nlets Secure Cloud Platform 
• March 2: The Most and Least Used Message Keys for Investigators (this webinar)
• March 31: Improving Police Information Sharing on a Global Scale

Click here to view and register for other upcoming Nlets webinars on the JCH Platform.

Resources Mentioned During Webinar

• Railroad Crossing Lookup

Audience Comments

• “I had no idea NLETS had wildlife violations! …” — Navdeep
• “I learned a lot. Primarily, what the different queries are capable of. Thank you!” — Pauline
• “The information available via Nlets and the method for obtaining it. Very good course. This is the first time anyone has provided this information for Nlets.” — Laura
• “The webinar was very interesting and educational. Thank you!” — Deirdre
• “Never attending an NLETS training (other than brief coverage when recertifying in Ca), it was a great class.” — DAWN

Nlets is a self-funded nonprofit, established in 1967 with the objective of connecting law enforcement, justice, and public safety agencies for the purpose of exchanging critical criminal justice information. They strive to ensure that the right information gets to the right person as quickly as possible. Nlets connects more than 1,000,000 users, 45,000 agencies and 800,000 devices, with more than three billion transactions traversing their secure network last year.