CJITI WEEKLY NEWS: Covering Law Enforcement, Corrections & Courts across the United States
 

Vol. 3 #1 March 22, 1999

 

The Colorado Springs (CO) Police Department is readying its old car radios and will have all employees on duty on December 31, 1999 as part of its Y2K readiness plan . The city has spent about $5 million over the last few years to make its systems Y2K-compliant, and anticipates few problems with its communications network.

[Source: "Springs police, fire departments take Y2K seriously; City will be prepared, emergency manager says" by Debra Franco; The (Colorado Springs, CO) Gazette, March 15, 1999]

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Item #2  WILMINGTON (NC) POLICE TO GET AFIS EQUIPMENT

The Wilmington (NC) Police Department will have a new automated fingerprint identification system within a few months, making its livescan fingerprinting of suspects more effective. The $100,000 AFIS system will allow prints from crime scenes and suspect bookings to be compared against the state database within minutes.

[Source: "City police tap new technology to solve crime" by Victoria Cherrie; The (Wilmington, NC) Morning Star, March 15, 1999]

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Item #3 SCHAUMBURG (IL) POLICE USE OF GPS

Police in Schaumburg, Illinois began using Global Positioning System (GPS) equipment in squad cars almost 10 years ago in order to track locations and improve officer safety. Many other Illinois communities are looking at using GPS to be able to send the closest vehicle to respond to a 911 call.

[Source: "Tracking system pinpoints anything; Schaumburg police use new technology" by Timothy S. Rooney; Chicago Daily Herald, March 11, 1999]

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Item #4 COCONUT CREEK (FL) POLICE TO GET NEW COMPUTER SYSTEM

After a review of systems available from five vendors, Coconut Creek, Florida police have decided to replace the department's 12-year old dispatch and records system with a new one from Open Software Systems Inc. The cost will be $98,216 for hardware--including dispatch computers--and $243,200 for software and installation.

[Source: "Police Getting New Computers; Creek System Promises Efficiency" by Robert Nolin; Florida Sun Sentinel (West Broward edition) March 12, 1999, Pg. 6]

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Item #5 HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY (FL) SHERIFF'S OFFICE USE OF CRIME MAPPING
 
The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office has begun using crime analysis and mapping software to track trends and to determine how to best allocate its resources. The Sheriff's Crime Information Strategy System includes data from 1996 to the present, and was developed using federal and state funds.

[Source: "Programs Help Police Track Stats" by Kathryn Wexler; St. Petersburg Times, March 11, 1999, Pg. 3B]

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Item #6 WISCONSIN DNA DATABASE ARRESTS  

Recent DNA tests run in Wisconsin on samples collected from convicted sex offenders by the State Crime Laboratory have provided suspects for two 1993 rapes. The state has collected DNA samples from over 9,000 inmates, and the two suspects were identified when their samples matched material from those 1993 sexual assaults.

[Source: "DNA Implicates Men in Two Rapes; Both Defendants in 1993 Cases are Already Behind Bars for Subsequent Attacks" by David Doege; Milwaukee (WI) Journal Sentinel, March 6, 1999, Pg. 1]

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COURT TECHNOLOGY NEWS

 
Item # 7 MULTNOMAH COUNTY (OR) PUBLIC SAFETY DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM

The Multnomah (OR) County Public Safety Coordinating Council is leading an effort to develop a decision support system to best determine sentencing of prisoners in its courts. DSS-Justice is being developed through a $7.5 million bond issue and is being looked at as a possible model by courts around the country.

[Source: "Sentence for Results, Not Vengeance" by Neal Peirce; Charlotte (NC) Observer, March 13, 1999, Pg. 23A]

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CORRECTIONS TECHNOLOGY NEWS

 
Item #8  MASSACHUSETTS SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT TO RULE ON DNA SAMPLING OF INMATES

Massachusetts is the only state not currently placing DNA samples of violent and sexual offenders in its correctional facilities into a statewide database, after a successful challenge to that procedure last year. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court recently heard arguments on the matter and will decide in the next few months whether work on the DNA database should resume. The state is still taking samples from inmates who are suspects in specific cases.

[Source: "Missing Evidence in Pursuit of Crooks, DNA Counts" by Matthew Brelis; Boston Globe, March 14, 1999, Pg. C1]

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CJITI Weekly News is compiled by Jeffrey Michaels jeffreym@mitretek.org