WEEKLY NEWS: Covering
Law Enforcement, Corrections & Courts across the United States
| Vol. 2 #38 January 4, 1999 |
#1 Nashville (TN) police use of handheld computers
#2 Fox River Grove (IL) police receive grant for squad car laptops
#3 Itasca (IL) Police get COPS MORE grants for laptops
#4 Canby (OR) police receive grant for squad car laptops
#5 Two Florida police departments get COPS MORE grants
#6 Virginia law enforcement switch to NIBRS
#7 Atlanta may get fiber-optic criminal justice wide area network
#8 Georgia Department of Corrections' Y2K contracts
LAW ENFORCEMENT TECHNOLOGY NEWS
Nashville police are testing the use of handheld computers by their officers who patrol city streets on foot, horseback, or by bicyle and motorcycle. Officers will be able to access criminal records and perform other computer functions by voice command. The handheld units will also allow officers' locations to be tracked for increased officer safety. More information on the department's use of technology can be found on the Nashville Police home page: http://www.nashville.net/~police/
[Source: "Palmtop PCs to Help Police Officers on Job" by David Hefner; Tennessean (Nashville, TN) December 13, 1998]
Item #2 FOX RIVER GROVE (IL) POLICE RECEIVE GRANT FOR SQUAD CAR LAPTOPS
Police in Fox River Grove, Illinois will soon add laptop computers to some squad cars, allowing officers to write reports while in their vehicles. The ten-officer department will lease the needed police report software from the nearby Crystal Lake Police department for $150 per month.
[Source: "Computers to help officers get off the paper trail" by Jonathan McKernan; Chicago Daily Herald, December 21, 1998]
Item #3 ITASCA (IL) POLICE GET COPS MORE GRANTS FOR LAPTOPS
The Itasca (IL) Police Department has received a $69,000 COPS MORE grant, which will be matched with $23,000 of its own funds to purchase 10 laptop units for its squad cars. Officers will be able to do their own background checks without the aid of dispatchers. More information can be found on the department's home page http://www.itasca.com/itpolice.htm
[Source: "Itasca police earn computer grant" by Leslie Cummings; Chicago
Daily Herald, December 22, 1998]
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Item #4 CANBY (OR) POLICE RECEIVE GRANT FOR SQUAD CAR LAPTOPS
Police in Canby, Oregon have received a $76,429 COPS MORE grant to hire new clerical employees and give laptop computers to each of its 12 patrol officers. The grant will allow officers to spend less time writing reports and more time on community policing efforts.
[Source: "Canby Police Department Receives Grant for Support Services;" Oregonian (Portland, OR) December 21, 1998, Pg. B3]
Item #5 TWO FLORIDA POLICE DEPARTMENTS GET COPS MORE GRANTS
Coral Gables (FL) police recently received a COPS MORE grant of roughly $1.3 million to put laptop computers in its squad cars and construct a new communications center. Police in Homestead, Florida received $138,000 in COPS MORE funds, part of which will go toward automated fingerprinting equipment.
More information on the Homestead police can be found at: http://legal.firn.edu/muni/homestead/
[Source: "Grant Puts Police on Star Trek Track" by Elaine De Valle and Draeger Martinez; Miami Herald, December 24, 1998, Pg. KE7]
Item #6 VIRGINIA LAW ENFORCEMENT SWITCH TO NIBRS
On January 1, 200 police and sheriff's offices across Virginia began using NIBRS (National Incident-Based Reporting System) as their new means of record keeping, making Virginia the 15th state to adopt the system. NIBRS analyzes crime more specifically and accurately than the Uniform Crime Report (UCR), developed in 1930, which it replaces. 72 other departments did not meet the state's January deadline, but will convert over the next few months even though some larger departments are not sure that resources expended on the effort will be worth the more accurate crime numbers.
More information on NIBRS can be found at http://www.nibrs.search.org/overview.htm
[Source: "Record-Keeping Change May Yield Clearer Picture of Crime in Virginia" by Patricia Davis; The Washington Post, December 25, 1998, Pg. D01]
COURT TECHNOLOGY NEWS
Item # 7 ATLANTA MAY GET FIBER-OPTIC CRIMINAL JUSTICE WIDE AREA NETWORK
Atlanta criminal justice officials are hoping to construct a fiber-optic wide area network (WAN) as a method of sharing information-- including court calendars, criminal records and digital mug shots-- among the city's courts, corrections and police. The WAN would cost at least $400,000, which may not be available in this year's budget even though the plan has been endorsed by the City Council's Public Safety and Legal Administration Committee.
[Source: "City Hall Notes Network Would Help Fight Crime" by Alfred
Charles and Julie B. Hairston; Atlanta Journal-Constitution, December 24,
1998, Pg. JD2]
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CORRECTIONS TECHNOLOGY NEWS
Item #8 GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF
CORRECTIONS' Y2K CONTRACTS
The Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) has signed three contracts worth $5.2 million with Unisys to make sure its systems and equipment is Y2K-compliant. The GDC contracts cover its offender tracking program, telecommunications, security systems and other PC equipment in its facilities across the state. More information on the GDC may be accessed at: http://ganet.org/corrections/index.html
[Source: "Georgia Prisons Get Y2K Help From Unisys;" Newsbytes, December 21, 1998]
CJITI Weekly News is compiled by Jeffrey Michaels jeffreym@mitretek.org