Databases help solve D.C. sniper case
The FBI’s Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS) database of 43 million fingerprints and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) IDENT fingerprint database were essential to the recent arrest of two Washington, D.C. area sniper suspects. IAFIS was searched by Montgomery, Alabama police working on a murder case that seemed to have no connection to the sniping cases got a in a hit on John Lee Malvo. Once the Montgomery case was mentioned by the sniper suspects, the IAFIS record led investigators to Malvo's INS arrest record, which then linked Malvo to John Allen Muhammad. Within a few hours both suspects were arrested.
Source: “Sniper leaves a mark” by William Matthews; Federal Computer Week, Oct. 28, 2002
4 states look at ballistics fingerprinting
As a result of the recent sniper shootings in the Washington, D.C. area, legislators in California, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey are proposing bills to create ballistic fingerprinting systems that would link crime scene bullets or shell casings to a gun's manufacturer and buyer. Only Maryland and New York currently have such databases, which because they are so new are not yet very extensive.
Source: “Now, 4 States Look to Start Tracing Shells And Bullets” by Fox Butterfield; The New York Times, October 24, 2002, Pg. A33
Revere (MA) Police get LiveScan grant
The Revere (Massachusetts) Police Department recently purchased a LiveScan fingerprinting system using $72,000 in federal funding allocated by the state that also covers support and training. Massachusetts has awarded such grants to 19 communities this year. The new equipment will make for speedier results on fingerprints, since the department previously mailed batches of prints to the FBI once a week and often waited months for results. Revere makes 1,600 to 2,100 arrests a year, one of the highest rates in the state for arrests per capita.
Source: “Police Get Up to Speed New Fingerprinting System to Be Installed” by Angelica Medaglia; The Boston (MA) Globe, October 17, 2002, Globe North, Pg. 1
DNA cold hit solves 1998 Nevada murder
The Washoe County (Nevada) Sheriff's Office Crime Lab recently reported a DNA cold hit for the 1998 strangulation of a woman in Reno. A sample from the crime scene entered into the national database matched that of a sample recently provided by a convicted felon to his probation officer in Oregon. The probationer is now awaiting extradition to Nevada to be tried for the crime.
Source: “DNA evidence leads to arrest warrant in old Reno murder;” The Associated Press State & Local Wire, October 21, 2002
Haltom City (TX) Police get new computer system
The Haltom City (Texas) Police Department's new $1.1 million computer system allows officers to prepare reports and transmit them to supervisors from their vehicles, speeding up the process, reducing handwriting errors, and keeping officers on patrol longer. The system, which also upgrades dispatch, mapping and records management, includes swipe devices that enable officers to quickly access driver's license information. The Fire Department will be hooked up to the system for mapping and dispatch information.
Source: “System helps police work faster” by Ben Tinsley; Fort Worth (TX) Star-Telegram, October 21, 2002, Metro Pg. 8
Great Falls (MT) Police get squad car laptops
The Great Falls (Montana) Police Department has used $400,000 in federal grants to equip patrol cars with laptop computers that allow officers to run their own license plate and other records checks as well as communicate by silent dispatch. The department has ordered 14 of the $8,500 computers and hopes to add six more. Missoula is the only other department in the state with squad car laptops.
Source: “Patrol cars suit up with computers” by Kim Skornogoski; Great Falls Tribune (Great Falls, MT) September 27, 2002, Pg. 1M
