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

Vol. 3 #4 April 12, 1999

 

The Delaware County (OH) Sheriff's Office recently outfitted eight cruisers and three canine cruisers with laptop computers at the cost of $3,000 each, and bought a $150,000 server to improve its communications system. The computers were paid for through a county property tax dedicated to Sheriff's Office improvements.

[Source: "Cruisers' Computers Give Deputies an Edge" by Donna Glenn; Columbus (OH) Dispatch, March 26, 1999, Pg. 3C]

 Top of Page
 

Item #2  FORT MILL (SC) POLICE TO AUTOMATE RECORDS WITH NEW COMPUTERS

Police in Fort Mill, South Carolina have purchased six Dell computers and records management software to automate the department, using funds from the town budget. The computers will streamline and speed up writing new warrants and reports, and old paper court and police files will be put online over time as well.

[Source: "It feels like 'Christmas' with department's first computer system" by Seanna Adcox; The Herald (Rock Hill, SC) March 31, 1999]

Top of Page

Item #3 GREENSBORO (NC) POLICE ISSUE COMPUTERIZED PARKING TICKETS

Police in Greensboro, North Carolina have begun using hand-held computers to issue parking tickets, saving time and reducing errors. The department spent $30,000 for seven hand-held units and software that allows the computers to be downloaded into a central database each day.

[Source: "Electronic Tickets Cut Paperwork, Save Time; There's No Arguing With the New Electronic Traffic Tickets Issued by Greensboro Police" by Erika Bolstad; Greensboro (NC) News & Record, March 30, 1999]
 

 Top of Page

Item #4 GLOUCESTER COUNTY (VA) SHERIFF'S OFFICE BUYS SPEECH RECOGNITION LAPTOPS

The Gloucester County (VA) Sheriff's Office recently installed 33 laptops with speech recognition software in its cruisers under a lease-purchase contract at $28,000 a year. The department saved up to $90,000 by being a test site of the software that was developed by Data Agents Inc. of Williamsburg, Virginia. The software allows officers to keep their hands on the wheel and their attention on suspects when they request license plate checks.

[Source: "Deputies Now Talking to Laptops" by The Associated Press; Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch, April 5, 1999, Pg. B4]

 Top of Page
 
 

Item #5 CHARLESTON (WV) ISSUES COMPUTERIZED PARKING TICKETS

Charleston (WV) Police are using hand-held computers to issue parking tickets, and the computers allow meter maids to check the license plates of vehicles they ticket to see if it has any outstanding tickets. The city purchased six of the computers for $35,000, hoping the units  can help collect the city's $1 million in unpaid parking tickets.

[Source: "City parking tickets computerized" by Todd C. Frankel; Charleston (WV) Daily Mail, March 19, 1999]

Top of Page 
 

COURT TECHNOLOGY NEWS

Item #6 ALAMEDA COUNTY (CA) HOPES NEW LAW IMPROVES DNA DATABASE

Alameda County, California has enacted a law making it a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail for violent felons to refuse to provide DNA samples for the database required by state law.  The state's DNA database has helped solve eight rapes and murders, and Alameda County officials want to get samples from all eligible felons in order to help close their unsolved cases.

[Source: "DNA Testing Law in Effect; Alameda County Gets Tough on Felons" by David Holbrook; San Jose Mercury News (Alameda County edition) April 5, 1999,  Pg. 1B]

Top of Page
 

Item # 7  UTAH COURTS TEST INTERNET FILING USING DIGITAL SIGNATURES

The Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office is the first in Utah to test the state's new Internet-based system through which filings are automatically placed online without clerks as intermediaries. The system-- which was developed by iLumin, based in Orem, Utah-- uses XML and digital signatures to authenticate the messages, allowing the system to encrypt some information while keeping it an open system which lawyers and courts across the state can access. The National Center for State Courts and the Courtroom of the Future Project at the University of Arizona are both excited by the system's possibilities.

[Source: "Courts Hitting the Web With Electronic Filing System That Looks to the Future" by Hannah Wolfson, Associated Press; Salt Lake (UT) Tribune, April 4, 1999]

Top of Page
 

CORRECTIONS TECHNOLOGY NEWS

 
Item #8  CLACKAMAS COUNTY (OR) CORRECTIONS DEPARTMENT WEB SITE 

The Clackamas County (OR) Community Corrections Department last month set up a web site to post names and photos of parole violators. The wanted list is under the "warrant cases" section of the home page and currently includes two men.

[Source: "Corrections Office Uses Internet to Get Parole Offenders;" (Portland, OR) Oregonian, March 29, 1999, Pg. C2]

 Top of Page

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