Many public safety agencies I speak with expect to spend the final months before the FBI’s October 2027 Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Security Policy deadline racing to close compliance gaps. However, meaningful security improvements never happen overnight, and compressed timelines lead to compliance band-aids. Instead of strengthening their security posture for the long term, many agencies will end up leaning on tactical fixes designed simply to satisfy an audit.
The deadline shouldn’t be about checking off another federal requirement. It’s an opportunity to solve one of public safety’s biggest cybersecurity challenges: ensuring the right people can securely access the right information at exactly the right moment they need it.
For law enforcement, corrections, emergency communications and other public safety organizations, secure access isn’t just an IT issue, but an operational one. Navigating cumbersome authentication takes time away from serving the public. And every gap in identity security creates an opportunity for cybercriminals to compromise sensitive criminal justice information. While the deadline isn’t until 2027, agencies should use 2026 to strengthen the identity foundation that will support long-term security. Recent CJIS Security Policy updates make clear that agencies must think beyond multifactor authentication to consistent identity governance, third-party access, and accountability.
Strong security never slows the mission
In public safety, security can never come at the expense of operational efficiency. Today’s officers, dispatchers, investigators, and civilian personnel may access up to 10 systems in a single shift. With every manual login or authentication, critical work gets delayed. Access is further complicated by personnel changes, contractors requiring temporary permissions, and legacy systems existing alongside modern cloud platforms. The real challenge is creating an identity strategy that works consistently across all of those environments.
If authentication creates friction, users will inevitably find ways to circumvent it. Such a workaround can introduce new risks that undermine the very security these agencies are trying to strengthen. The best security is security that people can seamlessly use.
The biggest hurdle: Complexity
Recent research from Imprivata, in partnership with Lexipol, illustrates the challenge agencies face. In a survey of 336 public safety professionals, nearly eight in 10 said CJIS compliance is a top priority, but only about one in three consider themselves fully compliant. This isn’t because agencies don’t care about security, but because identity has become significantly more difficult to manage across expanding technology environments.
Checking individual compliance boxes won’t close the broader security gaps. Agencies need a consistent identity strategy that spans legacy RMS and CAD systems, modern applications, shared workstations, mobile devices and contractor access. Managing those environments through separate tools increases complexity. Managing identity consistently across them makes both security and compliance easier to sustain.
This shift in mindset is important. Instead of asking, “What do we need to implement before October 2027?” agencies should ask, “What foundational capabilities will make every future security and compliance initiative easier?” The answer almost always starts with modernizing identity.
Identity strategies should strengthen authentication while simplifying the user experience. The goal is to make secure behavior the easiest behavior because when users can access the information they need quickly and securely, agencies improve both cybersecurity and operational effectiveness.
Build a foundation to last beyond 2027
The inclination over the next year will be to work directly against the 2027 requirements. The better move is to identify investments that will make future compliance easier. Agencies that modernize identity today will be better prepared not only for the October 2027 deadline, but also for future CJIS updates, evolving cyber threats, and increasingly complex access environments.
A practical place to start is by assessing the organization’s current identity environment. Before investing in new tools, understand where complexity exists today, where manual processes introduce risk, and where users experience unnecessary friction. Those insights can help prioritize improvements that deliver immediate operational value while supporting long-term compliance. IT leaders should be asking questions like:
- Is authentication consistent across systems that access criminal justice information?
- Can user identities and access privileges be managed centrally?
- Are onboarding, role changes, and offboarding automated wherever possible?
- Can users securely access the systems they need without unnecessary delays?
- Do administrators have clear visibility into who has access to sensitive information and why?
The answers often reveal opportunities to improve security, reduce administrative overhead and simplify compliance.
Compliance is a milestone, but not the destination
Cyber threats, alongside the tech needed to address them, will continue to evolve — as will the CJIS Security Policy. This is why October 2027 can’t be seen as a finish line.
Instead, the next year should be used to strengthen the systems that will support agencies long after this deadline has passed. Identity is one of the few cybersecurity investments that simultaneously improves compliance, strengthens security, and simplifies day-to-day operations.
The organizations that wait until the final year may be able to check compliance boxes, but those that start modernizing identity management today will build stronger cybersecurity, simplify compliance, and make secure access easier for the people who depend on it every day. That’s not only good preparation for the next CJIS deadline, but good preparation for the future of public safety.
Nick Stohlman is vice president of CJIS Strategy at Imprivata.
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