Morris County (NJ) proposes wi-fi police network
The 40 law enforcement agencies in Morris County, New Jersey – including the prosecutor, sheriff, park police, and 37 city departments – hope to create a wireless fidelity (wi-fi) wide-area network for encrypted sharing of information. Antennas would be added to the WAN to extend its range beyond the 30 mile radius such systems normally offer, allowing the system to be connected to hospitals and other locations in the county. The WAN set up fees of $500,000 might be supplied through federal homeland security grants targeted at innovative information sharing initiatives.
Source: "Cops may share data on Morris network" by John Cichowski; The Record (Bergen County, NJ) August 15, 2002, Pg. L2
Ft. Wayne (IN) Police get squad car laptops
The Fort Wayne (Indiana) Police Department plans to install specially designed ruggedized laptops in 96 new patrol cars under a $535,860 contract with a local software company. The computers are touch-screen, have pivoting bases for use by either the passenger or driver, and include water-resistant fold up keyboards. More computers might be ordered to replace the department’s 300 existing squad car laptops, which are located in the truck and break down occasionally because of excessive heat and dust.
Source: "Police cruisers get upgrade; Vehicle PC laptops are being installed" by Doug LeDuc; The News-Sentinel (Fort Wayne, IN) August 5 2002
New Jersey police agencies get LiveScan
Paramus, Teaneck, Hackensack, Totowa, and Wayne, New Jersey will soon have new LiveScan fingerprinting systems online, using federal grants to pay for the $26,500 machines. LiveScan replaces the ink pad method of fingerprinting, and enables almost instant reports on booking fingerprints. LiveScan should be statewide within a few years, and is already online in Clifton, Paterson, Passaic, and the Bergen County Sheriff's Department, connecting those departments to the New Jersey State Police Automated Fingerprint Identification Unit database of 2.6 million records.
Source: "Fingerprints in a flash; New technology easing ID process for police" by Leslie Koren; The Record (Bergen County, NJ) August 4, 2002, Pg. L01
Cold hit from Nebraska DNA database
The Upper Sandusky (Ohio) Police Department received a cold hit from a Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) search, linking a Nebraska prison inmate serving a 95 to 135-year sentence for a violent crime involving sexual assault to an ongoing rape investigation. The sample was entered into CODIS by the Nebraska State Patrol , and is the first national hit by Nebraska’s DNA database since it went online in December 2000.
Source: "DNA database links Ohio case to Nebraska inmate" by Robynn Tysver; Omaha (NE) World-Herald, August 13, 2002, Pg. 4B
Monroe (NC) Police get squad car computers
The Monroe (North Carolina) Police Department recently received a $47,461 Federal Local Law Enforcement Block Grant to purchase laptop computers for four patrol cars and upgrade additional radio and video equipment. 51 of the department's 55 patrol cars are currently equipped with laptops. The computers enable officers to run their own license plate checks and prepare reports electronically.
Source: "Grant to Keep Patrols on Technological Edge; Police to Get the Latest in Video Cameras and Laptop Computers" by Melanie Bass; The Charlotte (NC) Observer, August 11, 2002
Wyoming receives counterterrorism grant
Wyoming recently received a $709,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs to buy equipment to improve first responders' response to acts of terrorism involving weapons of mass destruction and biological agents. The Wyoming Emergency Management Agency plans to use the funds to buy equipment for six regional response teams being formed across the state. The teams will be based in Laramie, Casper, Gillette, Rock Springs, Riverton and Worland, communities chosen because they are within two hours of every location in the state.
Source: "State gets grant to help fight terrorism;" The Associated Press State & Local Wire, August 14, 2002
