ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors of this report wish to thank all those without whose contributions, support, and encouragement this effort would not have been possible. We wish to give thanks to those who supported this endeavor, including Linda W. Hayes, Chair of the Governor's Crime Commission; Donnie Parks, Chair of the GCC Drug Control and Substance Abuse Committee; David E. Jones, Executive Director of the GCC; Craig Turner, Lead Planner, Drug Control and Substance Abuse Committee; and Doug Yearwood, Director, Criminal Justice Analysis Center; and other members and staff of the North Carolina Criminal Justice Analysis Center .We also wish to thank Julie Wartell and Liz Groff of the National Institute of Justice, and Deborah Thomas of the University of Colorado - Denver, for use of their GIS readiness instrument in adapted form.

Particular thanks is given to James Klopovic of the North Carolina Governor's Crime Commission, for his vision and ongoing support of efforts to assist this project and to facilitate the capacity of small and medium sized law enforcement jurisdictions in North Carolina to recognize and take advantage of geographic information systems as a new information technology tool for analyzing and combatting crime in North Carolina.

The authors also wish to thank the study participants whose friendly and supportive cooperation provided such rich insights into the nature of GIS implementation for law enforcement. We thank them for their time, assistance, and help. These participants are listed in Appendix A of this document.

The authors are particularly indebted to the project transcriptionist, Terri Dinse, who performed her work with exceptional timeliness and professionalism. We are also appreciative of the staff support of the NCSU Public Administration Program and NCSU grants processing staff, including Lillian Kirby.