Training First Responders in Southern Maryland
St. Mary's, Charles and Calvert counties in Southern Maryland have improved their terror readiness since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, thanks to almost $2 million in federal and state grants as well as improved coordination between the counties. Drills and meetings involving local police, schoolteachers, firefighters and utility officials have covered preparedness for everything from an oil spill to chemical/biological warfare and nuclear plant sabotage.
Source: "First Responders Equipped for Terror; Training Covers Biological Warfare" by Michael Amon and Joshua Partlow. The Washington Post (Southern Maryland edition), 11 September 2003: Pg. T1
Winnetka (CA) Police Use of Red Light Cameras
Police in Winnetka, California announced a 14 percent drop in collisions at intersections with red-light cameras across the city. There were 198 crashes caused by running red lights in the first six months of 2003, compared to 229 in the same period last year. Cameras at one of the city’s most dangerous intersections produced a 58 percent drop. Between January 2002 and May 2003, 24,000 citations were issued for red light camera violations.
Source: "Crashes Drop at Camera-Ready Stops" by Jason Kandel. The Daily News of Los Angeles, 6 September 2003: N5
Midfield (AL) Police Get Technology Grant
The Midfield (Alabama) Police Department plans to use an $11,500 federal local law enforcement block grant to upgrade its computer system, which was originally purchased with a federal grant four years ago. Midfield has received five U.S. Justice Department grants since 1999 for equipment such as radios and computers.
Source: "Federal Grant to Fund New Midfield Police Computers" by Bill Plott. Birmingham (AL) News, 3 September 2003
Idaho Sex Offender Registry Goes Online
The Idaho State Police Central Sex Offender Registry is now accessible on the Internet, making Idaho the 23rd state to put such a registry online. The state has kept a registry of sex offenders since 1993, and legislators opened it to the public with restrictions in 1998. In 2002, the Legislature said the database could be placed online, but the action was delayed until the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing the lists.
Source: "Sex offenders posted on Internet." The Associated Press State & Local Wire, 29 August 2003
New York DNA Database Solves 1998 Rape Case
A cold hit from New York’s DNA databank, run by the Division of Criminal Justice Services, has led to the arrest of a Bronx man in the 1998 rape of a 13-year-old girl. The man’s sample was collected because he was placed on probation for a 1998 handgun offense, at which time he was deemed high risk.
Source: "DNA Snags Parolee in Rape of Girl" by Jonathan Lemire. Daily News (New York), 6 September 2003
Survey of State Criminal History Information Systems
"Survey of State Criminal History Information Systems, 2001," a new report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, describes the status of State criminal history records systems at yearend 2001. The data presented in this report are used as the basis for estimating the percentage of total State records that are immediately available through the FBI's Interstate Identification Index and the percentage that include dispositions. Read the report for more information.
Source: "Survey of State Criminal History Information Systems, 2001." Bureau of Justice Statistics, September 2003
