Spartanburg, SC Web site offers crime data
The Spartanburg (South Carolina) Public Safety Department has set up a Crime Statistics section on its Web site for residents to get current crime data on the community. The Public Safety Department provides police and fire response for a residential population of approximately 47,000 and a workday population that exceeds 125,000. The new Web service will be advertised on the rear bumper of police vehicles.
Source: “Web site helps to track crime in Spartanburg;” The Associated Press State & Local Wire, July 8, 2001
Colorado awarded grant for NIBRS
Colorado was recently awarded a grant of $525,000 from the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics to improve statewide use the National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS). The grant was part of $12 million in grant funds allocated to 24 states. NIBRS tracks eight types of crime and was created to replace the Uniform Crime Reporting program first developed in 1930 to provide national reporting of crime statistics. The funding will bring cities across the state into NIBRS compliance, and will also be used to upgrade computers at the Colorado Bureau of Investigation .
Source: “Grants to Update Crime-Data Systems; $525,000 Earmarked for Colorado Projects;” Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO) July 5, 2001, Pg. A18
E. Providence (RI) Police get grant for computers
The East Providence (Rhode Island) Police Department was recently awarded a Local Law Enforcement Block Grant of $18,507, one of 13 such awards across the state in the latest round of funding. Part of the grant will be used to pay for computer equipment to connect two community policing units at the East Providence Senior Center with computers at police headquarters.
Source: “Police receive federal grant for computers” by Doane Hulick; The Providence (RI) Journal-Bulletin, July 16, 2001, Pg. 1B
Dallas (TX) Police use Automated Vehicle Locator
The Dallas (Texas) Police Department is using Automated Vehicle Locator technology to monitor nearly 800 of its vehicles, both to improve officer safety and to improve the dispatch of cars to 911 calls. The $180,000 system is a component of the department’s recent $9.4 million technology upgrade.
Source: “New technology assisting officers; Tracking system lauded for its precision, but some police say device can be abused” by Drake Witham; The Dallas (TX) Morning News, July 12, 2001, Pg. 30A
Airway Heights (WA) Police upgrade cruiser technology
The Airway Heights (Washington) Police Department recently leased five new cruisers, which have been upgraded with new technology. The vehicles have laptop computers that will enable officers to run their own license plate checks and other records checks from the Spokane Records Management System, the Washington Department of Licensing and the Washington Crime Information Center.
Source: “New image; Morale rises as Airway Heights police update wheels with sharp-looking, high-tech models” by Carlos Acevedo; The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA) July 12, 2001
Miramar (FL) Police upgrade records management
The Miramar (Florida) Police Department plans to upgrade its records management process, and is awaiting city approval of an $850,000 contract for new computers and software. The new system will include squad car laptop computers that will enable officers to file reports electronically and retrieve current records while on patrol.
Funding sources include various federal grants and $675,400 from the city's capital improvement fund.
Source: “System to Aid Police Work; New Computers to Help Miramar Speed Data Access” by Nicole T. Lesson; Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL) July 11, 2001
