CENTER FOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE TECHNOLOGY
WEEKLY NEWS: Covering Law Enforcement, Corrections
& Courts across the United States
| Vol. 3 #15 July 5/11, 1999 |
#1 D.C. Metropolitan Police to post most wanted list on the Web
#2 Newport (RI) Police receive grant for laptops
#3 Funding for L.A.P.D. fingerprint system upgrades
#4 1973 murder suspect caught by Connecticut's fingerprint ID system
#5 Virginia's school safety Web site
#6 Wide area network for Bucks County (PA) Court
#7 California's Parolee Apprehension Program use of technology
#8 Kane County
(IL) to get inmate tracking system
LAW ENFORCEMENT TECHNOLOGY
NEWS
[Source: "Crackdown comes in Wake of Shootings; D.C. Police Focus Their Efforts on Gangs, Creating List of 'Most Wanted' Criminals" by Graeme Zielinski and Craig Whitlock; The Washington Post, June 28, 1999, Pg. B1]
Item #2 NEWPORT (RI) POLICE RECEIVE GRANT FOR LAPTOPS
Newport (Rhode Island) Police recently received an $85,749 COPS MORE grant, part of which will go towards the purchase of laptops for nine squad cars. The department currently has eight vehicles equipped with the laptops that allow officers to run their own license plate checks and get results in seconds, speeding up a process that used to take dispatchers up to 40 minutes.
[Source: "Federal grant to boost law enforcement" by Vaughn Watson;
Providence (RI) Journal, June 25, 1999]
Top of Page
Item #3 FUNDING FOR L.A.P.D. FINGERPRINT SYSTEM UPGRADES
The Los Angeles (California) City Council recently approved $190,000 in upgrades for the LAPD's 12-year old automated fingerprint identification system. The funds will come from a COPS MORE grant and will allow the department to meet the U.S. Department of Justice requirement that all requests for fingerprint checks be made online by September 1, 1999.
[Source: "New LAPD Fingerprint Computer System Okd" by Kurt Streeter; Los Angeles (CA) Times, June 23, 1999, Pg. B3]
Item #4 1973 MURDER SUSPECT
CAUGHT BY CONNECTICUT'S FINGERPRINT ID SYSTEM
Connecticut State
Police Forensic Science Laboratory fingerprint examiners recently
helped identify a suspect in an unsolved 1973 New Haven murder through
fingerprint and DNA evidence. Enhancement technologies were used to develop
a thumbprint found at the crime scene, and a subsequent search on the state's
automated fingerprint identification system matched those of a man arrested
in 1994. The suspect was charged with the 1973 murder after his DNA was
found to match blood samples found at the crime scene.
[Source: "Newly Developed Evidence Key; Arrest Warrant Lays Out Prosecution Case in Serra Killing" by Dave Altimari; Hartford (CT) Courant, June 26, 1999]
Item #5 VIRGINIA'S SCHOOL SAFETY WEB SITE
Virginia has launched a school safety initiative that includes a 4SafeVA web site where information on school crime can be accessed. A partnership with telecommunications companies and Internet Service Providers has created a toll-free number through which students can anonymously make crime tips, with a similar feature soon to be available on the web site.
[Source: "Hot Line, Web Site for Tipsters Readied; Gilmore `4 SAFE VA' Initiative Targets School Crime" by Pamela Stallsmith; Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch, June 29, 1999, Pg. B1]
COURT TECHNOLOGY NEWS
Item #6 WIDE AREA NETWORK FOR BUCKS COUNTY (PA) COURT
Bucks County (Pennsylvania) commissioners recently approved $7.7 million to install a wide area network (WAN) linking 980 county government desktop computers, including courts and police. The WAN will be connected through fiber optic cables, and will allow employees to share information between departments as well as with county residents. The WAN will also offer a videoconferencing component connecting courts and police for arraignments and other court hearings.
[Source: "Bucks County Leaps into Future With Computer System Upgrade;
The $7.7 Million Project Would Allow Arraignments to be Done Via Video,
Link Residents to Court Records" by Hal Marcovitz; The Morning Call (Allentown,
PA) June 25, 1999, Pg. B1]
Top of Page
CORRECTIONS TECHNOLOGY
NEWS
Item # 7 CALIFORNIA'S PAROLEE APPREHENSION PROGRAM USE OF TECHNOLOGY
The Parolee Apprehension Program is a 30-agent task force administered by the California Department of Corrections , which was created a few years ago to reduce the number of at-large parolees. Because of the program, warrants for all parole violators are now placed in the Law Enforcement Automated Data System where they are available to all officers across California.
[Source: "Getting Tough on Parole Violators" by Henry K. Lee; San Francisco (CA) Chronicle, June 23, 1999, Pg. A7]
Item #8 KANE COUNTY (IL)
SHERIFF'S OFFICE TO GET INMATE TRACKING SYSTEM
The Kane County (Illinois) Sheriff's Office plans to spend $65,000 on hardware for an inmate tracking system for its jail. The vendor of the tracking system will provide the software for free since the county has volunteered to respond to data requests as the system is marketed nationwide.
[Source: "Inmate Tracking Goes High-Tech" by Robert Derocher; Chicago (IL) Tribune, June 25, 1999, Pg. 4]
Mitretek Systems' Criminal Justice Information Technology Institute Weekly News is compiled by Jeffrey Michaels jeffreym@mitretek.org