FINDINGS.

SEC. 612. FINDINGS.The Congress finds that— (1) cooperation among Federal, State and local law enforcement agencies is critical to an effective national response to the problems of violent crime and drug trafficking in the United States; (2) the National Crime Information Center, which links more than 16,000 Federal, State and local law enforcement agencies, is the single most important avenue of cooperation among law enforcement agencies; (3) major improvements to the National Crime Information Center are needed because the current system is more than twenty years old; carries much greater volumes of enforcement information; and at this time is unable to incorporate technological advances that would significantly improve its performance; and (4) the Federal Bureau of Investigation, working with State and local law enforcement agencies and private organizations, has developed a promising plan, “NCIC 2000”, to make the necessary upgrades to the National Crime Information Center that should meet the needs of United States law enforcement agencies into the next century.