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

Vol. 3 #5 April 19, 1999

 

Alexandria (VA) Police are currently testing a high-tech police car developed under a federally funded R&D project by the Texas Transportation Institute. The ALERT (Advanced Law Enforcement Response and Technology) vehicle includes $30,000 of computer equipment that centralizes IT functions and allows officers to operate many different systems from one touch screen. Tests by Alexandria police and other law enforcement agencies will help determine which equipment is most important so costs of the vehicle can be lowered to enable wider distribution.

[Source: "Cruising Toward the Future Police Try Out Latest On-Board Computer" by Carol Hutchinson; The Washington Post, April 15, 1999, Pg. V01]

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Item #2 BRUNSWICK HILLS (OH) POLICE HOME PAGE   

The Brunswick Hills (OH) Police Department has created a home page on the Internet that provides overview information on the department such as its strategic plan and mission statement. The page also links to such sites as the Ohio Revised Code and the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction offender page .

[Source: "Walking the Web Beat; Brunswick Hills Twp. Police Department Creates an Internet Presence to Help Residents Find Data" by Stephanie Sheldon; Plain Dealer  (Cleveland) April 7, 1999, Pg. 1B]

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Item #3 PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY (MD) POLICE LINK TO ATF DATABASE

The Prince George's County (MD) Police  Department recently became the first local police force in Maryland to get a direct computer link to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms' gun-tracing database. The Project LEAD database will offer police quicker access to information on illegal weapons than the previous method of telephoning the Bureau's National Tracing Center in West Virginia.

[Source: "County Linked to U.S. Gun Database" by Craig Whitlock; The Washington Post, April 14, 1999, Pg. M8]

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Item #4 ST. LOUIS COUNTY (MO) POLICE USE VIDEOCONFERENCING TO GET WARRANTS

St. Louis County (MO) Police have begun using videoconferencing over personal computers at four precincts to request warrants from the prosecutor's office for all offenses except Class A and B felonies. This saves the 1.5 hours that had been spent per trip going to the courthouse for warrants.

[Source: "Metrowatch: St. Louis County;" St. Louis Post Dispatch, April 8, 1999, Pg. B2]

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Item #5 MINNESOTA GROUP LOBBIES FOR STATE CJIS

Minnesota HEALS (Minnesota for Hope, Education, And Law and Safety)-- a consortium of community, corporate, government and law enforcement leaders-- is being cited by the U.S. Department of Justice as an example of successful public-private collaboration to fight crime. Among the initiatives currently being lobbied for by the group is an integrated criminal justice information system that would better share crime data across Minnesota.

[Source: "Minnesota HEALS, a public-private effort to reduce violence and improve communities, has shown results" by Rachel E. Stassen-Berger; St. Paul (MN) Pioneer Press, April 18, 1999]

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Item #6 FLORIDA LAW ENFORCEMENT SUCCESS WITH DNA DATABASES

Florida's DNA database now has about 55,000 samples, and state success at using DNA to solve crimes includes an August 1975 murder solved by Fort Lauderdale police, and a 1991 double murder of a man and his pregnant wife solved by Monroe County Sheriff's deputies. The nation's first conviction using DNA evidence occurred in Florida in 1987 when an Orlando jury found a man guilty of sexual assault. 

[Source: "Police Now Rely on Different Set of `Fingerprints' to Make Cases" by Johnny Diaz; Miami Herald (Broward edition) April 4, 1999, Pg. 1BR]

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COURT TECHNOLOGY NEWS
 

Item # 7  MASSACHUSETTS COURT UPHOLDS DNA DATABASE

Massachusetts recently became the last state to authorize a DNA database of convicted sexual and violent offenders when its Supreme Judicial Court upheld a 1997 law that had been challenged by several prison inmates. The 27-page decision stated convicted criminals have "a lower expectation of privacy." The ruling overturned an injunction granted by a Superior Court judge last summer that halted inmate DNA testing.
 
[Source: "SJC gives state OK to collect DNA for database on convicts" by Jack Sullivan; Boston Herald, April 14, 1999, Pg. 14]

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CORRECTIONS TECHNOLOGY NEWS

 
Item #8  FAIRFAX COUNTY (VA) DIGITAL BOOKING OF CRIMINALS

Fairfax County, Virginia's Police and Office of the Sheriff will soon bring their new livescan fingerprinting and digital booking system online, advancing the county to the forefront of criminal identification. Fingerprint records from nearby Maryland law enforcement departments in Montgomery County and Prince George's County will soon be added to the system, as may those from Washington D.C., increasing the matches police make when booking suspects using aliases to those already wanted for crimes.

[Source: "Fingerprint System Gets Thumbs Up; Policing Gets High-Tech" by Tom Jackman; The Washington Post, April 08, 1999, Virginia Weekly, Pg. V01]

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