| Following the attack of September 11, 2001, government officials and researchers discovered a lack of information sharing about criminals and terrorists among law enforcement agencies. Although some agreement exists among researchers regarding barriers to law enforcement information sharing, empirical and scholarly data is minimal with no agreement about the reasons for these barriers. A comprehensive, focused analysis was needed to describe the phenomenon of nonsharing between law enforcement agencies and to identify barriers and environmental factors that influence information sharing goals and capabilities. A transcendental phenomenological approach was used to understand the phenomenon and identify factors, with systems theory, and change theory guiding general question development and the analysis of findings. A purposeful stratified sample of Virginia police chiefs and sheriffs was used for the study. Characteristics such as agency size, geographic location, agency type as described in Virginia's Uniform Crime Report, and law enforcement experience in Virginia was used to select a sample of 15 chiefs or sheriffs. From the analysis of the rich data collected, 14 organizational factors were identified that influenced information sharing among law enforcement agencies. Seven of these factors were identified in previous studies: communication, culture, goals and strategies, political, resources, structure and organization, and technology. Seven new factors were identified: management, alliances and interpersonal relationships, trust, local and regional cooperation, personalities, state cooperation, and federal cooperation. From these factors, organizational relationships were conceptualized as they relate to law enforcement agency interactions and the flow of information sharing. Further research is necessary to support the findings of this study, to determine the impact of relationships from the factors on law enforcement agencies, and to generalize the findings to other law enforcement agencies. Other methodologies and theoretical foundations should be applied to the findings in this study. |
