Monday, July 09, 2007
Volume 11, Issue 14

Pennsylvania City Gets Technology Grant

The York City Police Department plans to purchase a new records management system, using a $250,000 federal grant that will cover most of the hardware costs. The system will allow police officers to submit reports online using their squad car laptops, and will also be integrated with the county's new computer-aided dispatch system to greatly reduce the department's paperwork.

Daina Klimanis, "$250K federal grant allows York police reports to go high tech," The York (Pa.) Dispatch, 29 June 2007

Tennessee City Upgrades Communications

The $5 million digital 800-megahertz radio system developed for public safety and other city workers in Franklin, Tenn. is ready to go live. The system, which required new towers and equipment, will offer communications interoperability with other area departments that have upgraded to digital communications.

Kevin Walters, "Radio system goes digital," The Tennessean (Nashville, Tenn.), 4 July 2007

Georgia County Hopes to Improve Traffic Ticket Process

The Cobb County Police Department - which has 584 sworn officers delivering services to a population of 600,000 citizens over a 340 square mile area - has been issuing computer-generated traffic tickets since May, using software purchased with $297,000 in federal funds. The Cobb State Court handled 125,000 traffic tickets last year, and hopes to speed up and otherwise improve its processes with the software.

Yolanda Rodriguez, "Cobb computer system to ease traffic ticket hassle," The Atlanta (Ga.) Journal-Constitution, 28 June 2007: 10JH

California City Testing Parking Ticket Computers

The Santa Paula Police Department has received seven hand-held computers to speed up the issuing of parking tickets, with the ticket processing function outsourced to a private company. If testing of the devices is successful, the department plans to use the devices to issue tickets for moving violations as well.

Sam Richard, "Santa Paula's police turn to computers for parking tickets," Ventura County (Calif.) Star, 25 June 2007

DNA Cold Hit IDs Texas Inmate

Thanks to a DNA cold hit by the FBI Laboratory's Combined DNA Index System (CODIS)¸ Houston Police have linked a Texas prison inmate to an unsolved murder case from 1982. The inmate, currently serving a sentence for an unrelated murder, was scheduled to be paroled on Nov. 1, 2009.

Jennifer Leahy, "DNA match links Texas inmate to '82 stabbing death; Suspect already is serving time for another homicide," The Houston (Texas) Chronicle, 3 July 2007: B5

Ohio County Gets New Mug Shot System

The Hamilton County Justice Center has upgraded its mug shot database with a new $400,000 facial recognition system. Photos are taken at booking to verify an offender's identity, and can also be used in criminal investigations and to create virtual lineups of suspects.

Quan Truong, "New mug shot system IDs prisoners," The Cincinnati (Ohio) Enquirer, 3 July 2007: 2B

Minnesota Use of RFID for Corrections

The Minnesota Department of Corrections (DOC) is set to implement a radio frequency identification (RFID) inmate-tracking system at the 1,300-bed minimum/medium-security facility in Lino Lakes. The real-time tracking system monitors inmates every two seconds, providing instant alerts for fights and hostage situations.

Marc L. Songini, "Minnesota turns to RFID to monitor inmates," Computerworld, 18 June 2007

Pilot GPS Projects in New York

GPS monitoring pilot programs run by the Nassau County and Suffolk County probation departments are testing whether the technology should be applied to a larger number of offenders as a way of reducing costs and opening up needed bed space. It costs about $38 a day to monitor an offender with GPS in Suffolk County, including manpower, while keeping the offender in jail costs more than $200 a day.

Brandon Bain, "Tracking success: Probation officials encouraged by results of pilot initiatives that use GPS devices to keep tabs on convicts, but say it isn't a 'silver bullet',"  Newsday (Melville, N.Y.), 25 June 2007

Proposal Would Allow Competency Hearings by Videoconferencing

A group of psychiatric hospitals in and around St. Louis have asked the St. Louis County Probate Court - which handles the most competency hearings in the metropolitan area, to consider videoconferencing such hearings. Allowing mentally ill patients to testify from hospitals would be less stressful on patients and is supported by the Missouri Department of Mental Health, but the videoconferencing plan would have to be approved by the full court.

Donna Walter, "St. Louis Probate Court considers videoconferencing," St. Louis (Mo.) Daily Record, 25 June 2007