WHEREAS, the lawful interception of telecommunications is one of the most valuable investigative tools available to law enforcement in identifying and crippling illegal drug activities and drug trafficking organizations and has led to 654 criminal convictions in 1999, according to the 1999 Wiretap Report published by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, and over 20,000 convictions from 1989 - 1999; and seventy-two percent of all applications for intercepts authorized in 1999 cited drug offenses as the most serious offense under investigation; and

WHEREAS, telecommunications systems and networks are used in the commission of criminal activities; and lawfully authorized electronic surveillance preserves public safety; and

WHEREAS, advances in telecommunication technology have adversely impacted court authorized interception of communications leaving law enforcement incapable of intercepting certain manufacturers/carriers technology and full implementation of the Communication Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) legislation has been delayed; and

WHEREAS, to accomplish intercepts within new and sophisticated telecommunications systems, law enforcement is spending limited resources on expensive interface circuits and paying exorbitant fees for provisioning and maintenance of intercepts by carriers; now therefore be it

RESOLVED, that the International Association of Chiefs of Police duly assembled at its 107th Annual Conference in San Diego, California, strongly urges that telecommunications carriers provide law enforcement service for cost and not retail value; and, additionally, provisioning charges should not be predicated on the number of instruments being used; and be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, that the IACP supports continued Congressional appropriations into the Telecommunications Carrier Compliance Fund (TCCF) at commensurate levels in order to assist in preserving law enforcement’s ability to conduct electronic surveillance.