DNA cold hit solves 1984 murder-rape in California
California Attorney General Bill Lockyer and Tehama County Sheriff Clay Parker recently announced a "cold hit" from the state's Convicted Felon Databank, solving the 1984 murder and rape of a 13-year-old girl. The California Department of Justice (DOJ) DNA Laboratory in Berkeley identified the 53-year-old suspect through the DNA profile taken because of his 1987 California felony conviction for assault with intent to commit rape. He was in jail for failing to register as a sex offender, and will now be charged with murder, kidnapping and murder by torture, with prosecutors planning to seek the death penalty. A press release on the arrest is at:
http://caag.state.ca.us/press/2001/01-016.htm
Source: “DNA Database Solves '84 Killing; Girl's body was dumped by roadside” by Erin Hallissy; The San Francisco (CA) Chronicle, February 21, 2001, Pg. A22
Danvers (MA) Police use of crime mapping
The Danvers (MA) Police Department has begun using crime mapping to better allocate its resources and assign patrols to respond to crime trends. The effort, modeled after the New York Police Department's Compstat, allows the department to take the previous day's crime reports and make maps using ArcView GIS, an off-the-shelf product. The Danvers Police Public Safety Analysis Information site offers traffic accident statistics, a weekly crime bulletin and crime advisories.
Source: "Computer Mapping of Crimes Helps Police Target Their Patrols" by Caroline Louise Cole; Boston (MA) Globe, February 4, 2001
Mesquite (TX) Police get DNA cold hit for 1993 murder
The Mesquite (Texas) Police Department recently received a CODIS cold hit from DNA submitted in May 2000 seeking to solve a 1993 attack on a newlywed couple in which a man was murdered and his wife sexually assaulted. The DNA profile matched a Texas inmate currently serving time for a 1996 sexual assault on a child, who has now been charged with capital murder in the 1993 case.
Source: “DNA match links inmate to slayings” by Mary McKee; Fort Worth (TX) Star-Telegram, February 22, 2001
Tuscaloosa (AL) Police get DNA cold hit
Tuscaloosa (Alabama) Police have made an arrest in two rape cases, owing to a cold hit by the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences from the state database of inmate samples. Police had no suspects in the two cases, just the type of situation the DNA law was designed to solve. A state prison inmate currently serving time for burglary and robbery has been charged with the crimes.
Source: “DNA test leads to rape charges against state prison inmate;” The Associated Press State & Local Wire, February 21, 2001
Saratoga County (NY) seeks police computers
Officials in Saratoga County, New York are planning to provide computers to six police agencies in the county to improve the collection of data needed by county agencies. The Saratoga County Traffic Safety Board, for example, includes traffic accident statistics in its preparation of federal and state grant requests. Such information could be accumulated and synthesized by the county much more rapidly once laptop computers are distributed to police in Corinth, Ballston Spa, South Glens Falls, Mechanicville, Waterford and Stillwater.
Source: “Cop computers may pay off” by Kenneth C. Crowe II; The Times Union (Albany, NY) February 14, 2001, Pg. F1
High Point (NC) Police get LiveScan system
The High Point (North Carolina) Police Department expects to have a LiveScan digital fingerprinting system online by early summer that will improve the department's fingerprinting capability. LiveScan fingerprint checks can help identify suspects using aliases, and often get responses from the FBI within an hour, a process that previously could take weeks. The $65,000 system will be paid for with a state grant.
Source: “High Point Police to Get Digital Fingerprint System; the High-Tech System Helps Identify Suspects More Quickly and Accurately” by Paul Garber; News & Record (Greensboro, NC) February 9, 2001, Pg. B4
