DHS Releases TOPOFF 2 Evaluation
The Department of Homeland Security has released a summary report from TOPOFF 2, an exercise conducted from May 12 to May 16, 2003 involving federal, state, local, and Canadian participants, designed to assess how Top Officials would react to the simulated release of weapons of mass destruction in two U.S. cities. The exercise scenario depicted a fictitious, foreign terrorist organization that detonated a simulated dirty bomb in Seattle and released pneumonic plague in several Chicago metropolitan area locations.
Source: "Department of Homeland Security Releases Summary Conclusions From National Exercise;" DHS press release, 19 Dec. 2003, online at http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/display?content=2693
Douglas County (NE) Gets New Communications System
By early next year, 20 local law enforcement and fire departments in the Omaha, Nebraska region will be able to communicate with each other over Douglas County's new $19 million emergency communications system. The county is currently running final tests on the system, funded through public safety bonds approved by voters in 2000. The system will connect police in Omaha, Valley, Waterloo, Elkhorn, Ralston, Bennington, and Boys and Girls Town with Douglas County sheriff's deputies.
Source: "New emergency system improves communications; Douglas County fire and police departments will be linked by radio" by Tom Shaw; Omaha (NE) World Herald, 14 Dec. 2003: 4B
Broward (FL) Sheriff Announces DNA Cold Hit
The Broward (Florida) Sheriff’s Office announced the Florida Department of Law Enforcement DNA database has linked a prison inmate with the abduction and rape of a 3-year-old girl in the county in August 2000. The inmate was subsequently charged with six counts of sexual battery of a child less than 12. He is currently serving a four-year sentence for violating his probation for a drug offense.
Source: "DNA Evidence Links Inmate to Rape of Girl, 3, Police Say; Man Charged With Kidnapping, Burglary and Sexual Battery" by Jaime Hernandez; Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL), 16 Dec. 2003: 4B
NYPD Sets Up Subway Security Booths
The New York City Police Department (NYPD) has erected dozens of security booths at entrances to major subway tunnels and along some elevated platforms to prevent terrorism and other crime. The booths, staffed 24x7, feature closed-circuit televisions that pick up feeds from several cameras along the platforms and tunnels, and offer dedicated phone lines to reach other police divisions. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has paid approximately $100,000 for each booth.
Source: "Subway Security Beefed Up NYPD's high-tech booths elevate terror defense" by Jonathan Lemire; Daily News (New York), 14 Dec. 2003
Minnesota Gets New Crime Lab
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has moved to a new location, with an upgraded crime lab taking up about half of the $83 million 224,000-square-foot building. The crime lab includes a new DNA lab, which was picked by the FBI to house one of four federally funded mitochondrial DNA labs that will offer testing by the fall of 2005.
Source: "Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension: Speeding Up Justice" by Mara H. Gottfried; Saint Paul (MN) Pioneer Press, 21 Dec. 2003: 1B
Biometrics Pilot in Arizona Middle School
The Maricopa County (Arizona) Sheriff's Office has installed facial recognition technology designed to recognize registered sex offenders and missing children as a pilot project in a Phoenix middle school. The system employs two cameras, one to scan faces of people who pass through the main entrance and another to cover the school office. An officer will be dispatched to the school if the cameras identify photos in state and national databases.
Source: "School installs facial scan system seeking sex offenders, missing children" by Michelle Rushlo; The Associated Press State & Local Wire, 12 Dec. 2003
