CENTER FOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE TECHNOLOGY
RESEARCH WEEKLY NEWS: Covering Law Enforcement, Corrections
& Courts across the United States
| Vol. 3 #25 October 4, 1999 |
#1 Lower Makefield Consortium gets grant for laptops
#2 Akron (OH) Police to purchase 150 squad car laptops
#3 Defense Computer Forensics Lab opens in Maryland
#4 Miami Beach (FL) Police use of AFIS on 1982 murder case
#5 Arizona law enforcement use of AFIS on cold cases
#6 Crime mapping project in Pinellas County, Florida
#7 New Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court to be high-tech
#8 Corrections
and State Patrol records sharing in Washington
LAW ENFORCEMENT TECHNOLOGY NEWS
The Lower Makefield Consortium, a coordinated effort of 19 township and borough police departments in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, was recently awarded a Justice Department grant of $985,099 for squad car laptop computers. The communities -- Bedminster, Bensalem, Buckingham, Doylestown, Hilltown, Lower Makefield, Lower Southampton, New Britain, Newtown, Northampton, Plumstead, Solebury, Tinicum, Bristol, Morrisville, Doylestown, New Hope, Perkasie and Tullytown -- will match 25% of the grant and share the cost of the proposed 154 computers according to the number of computers received through the grant.
[Source: "Grant Will Let Police Bring Data on Patrol; The $1 Million Will Put Computer Terminals in Bucks County Squad Cars" by Richard V. Sabatini; Philadelphia (PA) Inquirer, September 27, 1999, Pg. B4]
Item #2 AKRON (OH) POLICE TO PURCHASE 150 SQUAD CAR LAPTOPS
The Akron (Ohio) Police Department plans to have new touch-screen Motorola laptop computers in 150 squad cars by early next year, at a cost of $9,000 per vehicle. Each computer will have a docking station, printer and eventually be outfitted with automatic vehicle locator (AVL) equipment to help determine which vehicle is closest to respond to 911 calls.
[Source: "To Protect & Serve; For Akron's Men and Women in Blue, Police Work Sure Isn't What It Used To Be" by Mark Price; Beacon Journal (Akron, OH) September 26, 1999, Beacon Magazine Pg. 4]
Item #3 DEFENSE COMPUTER FORENSICS LAB OPENS IN MARYLAND
The Defense Department recently unveiled its new $15 million computer forensics lab which will be used to handle about 400 military criminal cases each year ranging from espionage to murder. The Defense Computer Forensics Lab, located in Linthicum, Maryland, plans to share equipment and expertise with other Federal, state and local law enforcement departments on cases involving computers.
[Source: "Military unveils new high-tech crime-fighting lab" by Ted Bridis; The Deseret News (Salt Lake City, UT) September 25, 1999]
Item #4 MIAMI BEACH (FL) POLICE USE OF AFIS ON 1982 MURDER CASE
While preparing for the retrial of a man convicted of murder, Miami Beach (Florida) Police detectives used fingerprint records to identify an additional suspect in the 1982 crime. All fingerprints from the scene were checked against AFIS records, and one previously unknown set were matched against those of a man whose prints were entered into the database in 1990. The new suspect has been indicted for murder by a grand jury and will be extradited to Florida.
[Source: "DNA, Fingerprints Link New Suspect to '82 Killing" by Luisa Yanez; (Florida) Sun Sentinel, September 24, 1999, Pg. 4B]
Item #5 ARIZONA LAW ENFORCEMENT USE OF AFIS ON COLD CASES
Technology combined with persistence helps Arizona detectives working on cold case. Automated fingerprinting and DNA testing are two technologies often used when reexamining evidence from such cases. One Phoenix Police detective says AFIS has changed the way fingerprint evidence is examined, since it used to take "literally thousands of fingerprint technicians to do what AFIS does in seconds."
Item #6 CRIME MAPPING PROJECT IN PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA
Pinellas County (Florida) law enforcement departments are using a $150,000 Justice Department grant to develop a crime mapping program using the help of a software firm that plans to market the product. Tests will be run using data gathered from the Pinellas County Sheriff's Department and Clearwater Police Department . The goal is to use the "Enforcer" system to improve tracking of crimes such as rape and burglary that occur across different jurisdictions.
[Source: "High-Tech Computer to Fight Crime" by Joe Newman; St. Petersburg (FL) Times, September 18, 1999, Seminole Times Pg. 1]
COURT TECHNOLOGY NEWS
Item # 7 NEW BERNALILLO COUNTY METROPOLITAN COURT WILL BE HIGH-TECH
The new Bernalillo County (New Mexico) Metropolitan Court , which is scheduled to open in 2003, will be virtually paperless and will offer electronic kiosks for public information. The courtrooms will have computer-aided transcription systems, multimedia evidence presentation systems, video arraignment, and electronic document management systems for rapid retrieval of records during trials.
[Source: "Planners envision new courthouse as state-of-the-art marvel" by Leslie Hoffman; Albuquerque (NM) Tribune, September 21, 1999, Pg. A4]
CORRECTIONS TECHNOLOGY
NEWS
Item #8 CORRECTIONS AND STATE PATROL RECORDS SHARING IN WASHINGTON
The Washington Department of Corrections and Washington State Patrol are drafting a plan for online information sharing to enable better tracking of convicts involved with hate groups. Such knowledge would enable Corrections officials to make more informed parole decisions. It was the recent case of an avowed white supremacist released under community supervision who subsequently was charged with the shootings at a Los Angeles community center that convinced the Governor to request the plan.
[Source: "Police, Corrections to Share `Hate' Data" by Dionne Searcey; Seattle (WA) Times, September 17, 1999, Pg. B2]
Center for Criminal Justice Technology Research Weekly News is
compiled by Jeffrey Michaels jeffreym@mitretek.org