Allen County (IN) Sheriff's Dept. plans to use GIS
The Allen County (Indiana) Sheriff's Department expects to be a major user of the county’s new $2 million geographical information system (GIS). The system, funded through a bond issued in 1999, identifies 145,000 addresses on 2,768 miles of roads in the county, making 911 response faster. GIS will also allow crime mapping, used successfully by several cities to reduce crime through improved allocation of law enforcement resources.
Source: "County officials view new mapping system; It will improve public safety, planner says" by Kevin Leininger; Fort Wayne (IN) News Sentinel, May 16, 2002, Pg. 3A
Jupiter (FL) Police get squad car computers
The Jupiter (Florida) Police Department has purchased a $536,106 touch screen squad car laptop communications system that will enable officers to run their own license plate checks, reserving dispatchers and radio channels to handle 911 calls. Officers will also be able to prepare reports in their vehicles and transmit them to headquarters over encrypted communications. The department funded 65% of the total cost through a $340,037 Federal COPS MORE grant.
Source: "Big Brother is Watching - From Jupiter Police Cars" by James Russell; The Jupiter (FL) Courier, May 8, 2002, Pg. A3
Fingerprint evidence helps Las Vegas (NV) Police solve murder
Las Vegas (Nevada) Metropolitan Police Department homicide detectives used fingerprint and DNA evidence in their lengthy investigation that solved the June 2001 murder of an elderly church worker who was found raped and suffocated in her home. Fingerprint evidence retrieved from inside a broken beer bottle at the crime scene was matched to a man whose fingerprints were on file because of a 1998 robbery arrest. The suspect, who was located after he was arrested for a probation violation, has since confessed to the crime.
Source: "Inmate charged in woman's death" by J.M. Kalil; Las Vegas (NV) Review-Journal, May 15, 2002, Pg. A1
SATURN holds meeting in central Mass.
A Massachusetts anti-terrorism network recently held an orientation session in the central part of the state for more than 100 area police, emergency response and fire officials. SATURN (Statewide Anti-Terrorism Unified Response Network) was designed to improve online information sharing of possible terrorism threats identified at the local level. SATURN members across the state will be connected through a network of pagers as well as a secure Web site.
Source: "SATURN spinning web around terrorism" by John J. Monahan; Worcester (MA) Telegram & Gazette, May 15, 2002, Pg. A1
DNA cold hit solves 1986 Missouri rape case
Jackson County, Missouri prosecutors have used a cold hit from the state’s DNA database to charge a convicted sex offender with the 1986 rape and robbery of a Kansas City woman. The man charged in the crime is currently serving 30 years for a 1987 sodomy conviction. It is the oldest case solved by the DNA database in the county. DNA cold hits have recently resulted in convictions in several other murder and rape cases in the county.
Source: "DNA link to prisoner reopens 1986 case" by Joe Lambe; The Kansas City (MO) Star, May 18, 2002, Pg. B1
Rensselaer County (NY) gets technology grant
A consortium of Rensselaer County, New York law enforcement agencies will use a $3.2 million federal COPS MORE grant for computer-aided dispatch, records management, squad car laptops, wide area networking and digital fingerprint scanners. The new equipment will allow participating agencies – which include the Rensselaer County Sheriff's Department, Troy and Rensselaer city police departments, East Greenbush, North Greenbush and Schodack town police departments, and the Hoosick Falls and Nassau village police departments – to communicate and share records online. Being able to share fingerprints, mug shots and criminal records should improve officer safety and increase arrests.
Source: "Police work goes faster; Troy Federal grant puts new communications technology in county agencies' hands" by Michele Morgan Bolton; The Times Union (Albany, NY) May 23, 2002, Pg. F3
