Wednesday, March 9, 2005

State police drop anti-terror project

Reduced participation sapped the controversial data collection network's usefulness, officials say.

Associated Press

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LANSING -- State police officials said Monday the agency will drop out of a data-collecting system that came under fire for sharing and collecting personal information between participating states.

The Michigan State Police said it will stop participating in the federally funded Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange, or MATRIX, when the pilot project ends March 18.

The program collects data, including driver's license and criminal history information, and shares access with participating states. It was intended to make it easier to exchange information between law enforcement agencies across the country.

The Michigan State Police said the lack of participating states diminished the value of the project. When the state joined the pilot project in December 2003, it was one of 13 participating states and the network represented about half of the country's population and half of reported crime. Four states will remain after Michigan leaves -- Pennsylvania, Ohio, Connecticut and Florida, a MATRIX spokesman said.

The Michigan State Police also said it is getting out of the system because it is worried about future funding and unrealistic expectations to expand the project.

"The need for law enforcement investigators to access legally available information sources for criminal investigations continues to be a critical goal," said Michigan State Police Lt. Colonel Peter Munoz, deputy director and commander of the Field Services Bureau.

Munoz said the state police will be receptive to future offers to share information among law enforcement agencies across the country.

The American Civil Liberties Union sued last summer to stop Michigan from participating in the MATRIX. The group argued that the MATRIX violates Michigan's Interstate Law Enforcement Intelligence Organizations Act. The law prohibits state police from participating in interstate intelligence gathering without legislative approval or outside oversight.

Kary Moss, executive director of the ACLU of Michigan, said public records were merged in the system with databases owned by Seisint Inc. Those databases include details on property and business filings and other personal information.

Moss said the ACLU wanted to ensure that the system would have proper oversight and accountability.

"Our intent was never to remove an important law enforcement tool," Moss said in a statement. "The end of this program should not be seen as the end to the need to comply with the law if other opportunities to share information of this magnitude arise."