Arkansas awarded $910,563 technology grant
Arkansas was recently awarded $910,563 by the U.S. Department of Justice as part of $16 million allotted to 26 states for improved law enforcement information sharing. The grant will be used on a two-year Arkansas Integrated Justice Information System pilot project in Faulkner County, which will connect the Sheriff’s Office, courts and corrections. Funding for statewide implementation will be sought once the pilot project is completed.
Source: “Grant lets authorities share more data online” by Seth Blomeley; Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, July 25, 2001, Pg. B2
Kennebec County (ME) Sheriff's Office Web site
The Kennebec County (Maine) Sheriff's Office has set up a new Web site to offer residents information including a Most Wanted list, names and photos of registered sexual offenders, key telephone numbers, and e-mail addresses to communicate with the Sheriff's office. Funding for the Web site came from a $12,000 Department of Justice technology grant, which will also be used on computers to allow deputies who work in six substations to prepare reports and email them to headquarters.
Source: “Sheriff fights crime online Web site gives public wanted list, e-mail contact” by Michael Reagan; Kennebec Journal (Augusta, ME) July 16, 2001, Pg. B3
DNA cold hits in Virginia
In the first half of 2000 there have been 145 cold hits by the Virginia Division of Forensic Science DNA databank, the most in the nation. In 1989, Virginia became the first state to establish its DNA database, and its 155,688 profiles now comprise 25% of the national DNA system. About 2% of the offenders identified through hits have records for murder or kidnapping, 6% for sex crimes, 10% for drug offenses, and 43% for burglary or robbery. A trend noted by Virginia investigators has been burglars who become sexual offenders, making it important to add samples from all convicted felons to the database.
Source: “State's DNA Databank Increasingly Hits Mark” by Frank Green; Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch, July 18, 2001, Pg. B1
Lee's Summit (MO) Police get new technology
Lee’s Summit Police, who patrol the third-largest city in Missouri based on geographic size, will soon be equipped with 20 squad car computers. The City Council approved a $871,651 contract for the laptops as well as new computer-aided dispatch, police records management, jail booking, and municipal court management systems. The contract will be funded by a $200,000 federal grant and bonds from the police and municipal courts.
Source: “Lee's Summit to put computers in police cars” by Donald Bradley; The Kansas City (MO) Star, July 21, 2001, Pg. 1
Spencer (MA) Police get grant for digital booking
The Spencer (Massachusetts) Police Department recently received a federal grant of $22,121 grant that will be used for a digital booking system. The grant, which requires $7,000 in matching funds from the town, will fund an online database of the department’s mug shots and other crime scene photographs that now reside in file cabinets. Police will be able to create online lineups using digital photos, sorting through the database with various search capabilities.
Source: “Spencer police getting digital cameras” by Frederick A. Smock; Worcester (MA) Telegram & Gazette, July 12, 2001, Pg. B4
DNA cold hits in Alameda County, CA
The Alameda County (California) Sheriff's Department recently announced two DNA database cold hits that linked sex offenders now in prison to two unsolved sexual assaults in the county. In one case, a man who was scheduled to be released from San Quentin Prison on July 9 after serving time for a 1997 sexual battery case now is charged with raping another woman in September 1996. In the other case, a man due to be paroled in November after serving time for a 1998 kidnapping and rape is now charged with another kidnapping and rape case that year. Both men's DNA samples were in the state database because of their prior convictions for sexual crimes.
Source: “Database links convicts to 2 unsolved crimes;” The San Francisco (CA) Chronicle, July 24, 2001, Pg. A14
