WHEREAS, telecommunication companies continue to develop and mass produce voice and data communication products without law-enforcement intercept capabilities or regard for national security or public safety concerns. Terrorists, organized crime groups, and drug trafficking organizations rely heavily upon telecommunications to plan and execute their criminal activities and hide their illegal profits; and

WHEREAS, the lawful interception of voice and data communications is one of the most valuable investigative tools available to law enforcement in identifying and crippling illegal drug activities and drug trafficking organizations; and

WHEREAS, the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) that was enacted to preserve the ability of law enforcement to conduct electronic surveillance despite changes in telecommunications technology has been over-come by technology; and

WHEREAS, the ability of federal, state and local law enforcement to carry out critical electronic surveillance is being compromised. Many criminal organizations, to avoid interception, purposefully utilize telecommunications technology for which there are no CALEA intercept solutions; and

WHEREAS, despite a clear statutory mandate, full CALEA implementation has not been achieved; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, that the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) duly assembled at its 111th Annual Conference in Los Angeles, California, strongly supports amendments to the CALEA to address the current shortcomings in the implementation and enforcement of the legislation. Carriers must be required to install, deploy and make available to law enforcement a CALEA solution to assist with lawfully authorized electronic surveillance of telecommunication services prior to or concurrent with the release of communications products to the public. In addition, the added costs for these solutions should not be borne by law enforcement; and, be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, that the IACP recommends the CALEA provisions be amended to provide for enforcement by the Department of Justice, who should have the authority to levy sanctions for non-compliance, instead of the Federal Communications Commission.