LAW ENFORCEMENT

DNA Cold Hit from Interpol Database Solves Mexican Case

A DNA cold hit from Interpol's Data Bank linked a California man to the April 2004 sexual assault of a Canadian woman in Mexico. The Royal Canadian Mountain Police (RCMP) sent DNA evidence from the case to Interpol, which matched it to a 37-year-old sexual offender and parole violator from California.

Source: Jim Farrell, “Charges laid in Mexico sex assault of local woman: International DNA data bank identifies diving instructor as serial offender in California,” Edmonton Journal (Alberta, Canada), 2 March 2005: A2

Yolo County, Calif. Sheriff Announces DNA Cold Hit

A DNA cold hit has helped the Yolo County, Calif. Sheriff's Office identify two suspects in the 1979 sexual assault and slaying of a West Sacramento woman. Both suspects have records of sex-related convictions, with one currently serving a life sentence in Florida for a 1980 conviction for kidnapping and sexual assault.

Source: Robert D. Davila, “Yolo's DNA match leads to arrest in '79 killing,” Sacramento (Calif.) Bee, 2 March 2005: B3

DOJ Regional Data Exchange Pilot

Justice Department officials are readying an operational pilot to test the Regional Data Exchange, an FBI-led effort to share crime information between federal, state and local law enforcement organizations. The pilot, part of the department's Law Enforcement Information Sharing Program (LEISP), will start within six months.

Source: David Perera, “DOJ readies regional exchange,” Federal Computer Week, 7 March 2005, online at http://www.fcw.com/article88222

Success for Sterling Heights, Mich. "Most Wanted" Web Site

Police in Sterling Heights, Mich. have seen success with their Most Wanted Web site. Three suspects have been apprehended by police after anonymous tips to the site, which gets about 800 hits every month.

Source: Anne Fracassa, “Web lets cops nab suspects; Tips sent electronically through Sterling Heights site have helped police make some arrests,” The Detroit (Mich.) News, 9 March 2005: 2N

Colorado Budgets $13 Million to Complete Radio System

Colorado Gov. Bill Owens has earmarked $13 million from a gusher of severance taxes brought about by the boom in oil and gas drilling to complete work on a statewide radio system that will offer communications interoperability to first responders. About two-thirds of the new system, which includes a backbone of towers and transmitters across the state, has been built at a cost of $96 million.

Source: Ann Imse, “$13 Million Earmarked for State Radio System,” Rocky Mountain News (Denver, Colo.), 3 March 2005: 7A

Boston Forming Law Enforcement Fusion Center

The Boston, Mass. Police Department is days away from launching a tactical intelligence center that will for the first time bring together civilian crime analysts with sworn police personnel to analyze and communicate all information gathered by officers. Under the direction of the department’s Bureau of Investigative Services, the center will focus on guns, gangs, drugs, and terrorism.

Source: Suzanne Smalley, “Boston Police to Share Data on Crime; Tactical Intelligence Center to Open,” The Boston Globe, 5 March 2005: B1

CORRECTIONS

Tracking Probationers by Satellite in Minnesota

Arrowhead Regional Community Corrections will begin a pilot program to monitor certain low risk Northeastern Minnesota probationers in Carlton, Cook, Koochiching, Lake and St. Louis counties through Global Positioning System (GPS) cellular phones. The GPS phones will allow the offenders carrying them to be tracked and ordered to immediately respond when their probation officers phone them, at a cost of $1.50 a day per offender versus $50 to $100 a day to house a person in jail.

Source: Mark Stodghill, “Probation officers gain an eye in the sky,” Duluth (Minn.) News-Tribune, 7 March 2005

Tracking Juvenile Offenders by GPS in Delaware

The Delaware Division of Youth Rehabilitative Services has awarded a contract worth more than $50,000 to lease additional global positioning system (GPS) units to track the movements of juvenile delinquents on probation or under house arrest. The division, which currently has about 30 GPS units available statewide, pays about $12 a day to monitor an offender 24 hours a day with GPS, compared to $150 to $200 to keep a person locked up or in a community-based program.

Source: Randall Chase, “Delaware using satellite technology to track juvenile offenders,” USA Today, 7 March 2005

COURTS

Tracking Court Files by RFID in Dekalb County, Ga.

Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is moving quickly beyond commercial and defense-related supply-chain applications into state and local government efforts to eliminate misplaced files and the labor spent hunting for them. The Dekalb County, Ga. Juvenile Court, for example, has RFID keeping tabs on the 12,000 file folders it uses to process the more than 9,000 children that pass through its system each year.

Source: Laurie Sullivan, “RFID Everywhere -- The technology keeps tabs on library books, court files, radar antenna parts, and hazardous chemicals,” Informationweek, 7 March 2005: G22