DNA Cold Hit Nabs Maryland Serial Rapist
Montgomery County, Md. Police have used DNA evidence to link at least nine rapes in the county between 1987 and 1991 to a man recently charged in New York City rape cases from the 1970s. New DNA evidence from the 1973 case was entered into the FBI Laboratory's Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), which then linked the man charged in that crime to cases attributed to “the Silver Spring rapist” 25 years ago.
Source: David Snyder, “DNA Links Ga. Man to At Least 9 Md. Rapes; Attacks Terrorized Silver Spring Area,” The Washington Post, 27 April 2005: B5
Essex County, Mass. Police Departments Get Facial Recognition
Thirty-four police departments in Massachusetts will soon be sharing facial recognition software that will allow mug shots to be compared against a database of 50,000 photos, thanks to a $200,000 federal grant secured by the Essex County Sheriff’s Office. Essex is the first county in the state to purchase the software, which can get a facial match in seconds compared to minutes or hours with fingerprint databases.
Source: Jessica Fargen, “Crooks have to `face' music now,” The Boston Herald, 28 April 2005
Five County Information Sharing Network in Pennsylvania
Montgomery County, Pa. has begun the first phase of a project that will connect 214 police departments in five counties to enable sharing of investigation data over the Internet. About $1.7 million is available through the Southeastern Regional Counterterrorism Task Force to fund the rest of the project, which also involves Bucks, Delaware, Philadelphia and Chester counties.
Source: Pamela Lehman, “Montco leads in effort to share information; Making data available could help keep police in five counties safer,” Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.), 6 May 2005: B1
Tarrant County, Texas Gang-Tracking Database
Officials in Tarrant County, Texas are planning to construct an electronic countywide gang-tracking system to shadow gang members a little more closely, using a $147,000 federal grant that would be shared by Fort Worth and Arlington police, the Tarrant County Sheriff's Department and the Tarrant County district attorney's office. Other cities and government agencies have expressed interest in linking to the system, which would track domestic hate groups as part of its mission.
Source: Domingo Ramirez, Jr., “System would help in tracking gangs,” Fort Worth (Texas) Star Telegram, 4 May 2005: 9B
New Hampshire to Distribute $15 Million in Federal Funding
More than $15 million in Homeland Security money was accepted for distribution throughout New Hampshire by the state's Executive Council. The Homeland Security money, which will fund everything from local police department radios to emergency generators for fire departments and training money for disaster preparedness, will be available under a competitive bid process through the Department of Safety.
Source: Paula Tracy, “$15 million accepted from Homeland Security,” The Union Leader (Manchester, N.H), 5 May 2005: A9
Oklahoma Project Improves Communications Interoperability
Oklahoma has received more than $100 million in federal funds to bolster homeland security since Sept. 11, 2001, with money doled out by the Oklahoma Office of Homeland Security to more than 190 cities, counties and Indian tribes for emergency preparedness and information sharing. In 2004, about $16 million was earmarked for a communications system that will allow emergency responders to talk to each other anywhere in the state, and another $12 million is dedicated to interoperable communications in 2005.
Source: Michael Baker, “State rushes to prepare for attack,” The Sunday Oklahoman (Oklahoma City, Okla.), 24 April 2005: 35
Sangamon County, Illinois Information Sharing Project
Thanks to a $750,000 federal grant, the Sangamon County, Ill. Sheriff’s Office is issuing deputies new laptop computers that should enable them to spend more time on the road fighting crime and less time in the office writing reports. The laptops are part of the county's Integrated Criminal Justice System, which has been in the works for about three years, with the eventual goal of getting the sheriff's office, 911 and the Springfield Police Department to use the same software for easy information sharing.
Source: John Reynolds, “Laptop upgrade under way for police; County phasing out old squad computers for integrated system,” The State Journal-Register (Springfield, Ill.), 2 May 2005
