CJITI WEEKLY NEWS: Covering
Law Enforcement, Corrections & Courts across the United States
| Vol. 3 #7 May 3, 1999 |
#1 Plymouth County (MA) Sheriff's Department use of new AFIS system
#2 Largo (FL) Police domestic violence web site up for award
#3 U.S. Border patrol use of IDENT fingerprinting system
#4 Maine State Police have success using AFIS
#5 Texas gang-tracking database
#6 U.S. Senate looks at Y2K impact on 911 systems
#7 Manatee County (FL) Court offers driving records database to public
#8 Virginia
Department of Corrections is 92% Y2K-compliant
LAW ENFORCEMENT TECHNOLOGY NEWS
The Plymouth County (MA) Sheriff's Department's $4 million Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) is expected to be fully online within two years, and already is being used while booking suspects at the Plymouth County Correctional Facility. In its first nine weeks of operation police in Plymouth, Brockton and Whitman have used AFIS to link suspects in 50 cases.
[Source: "Fingerprint System is Up, With 1st Arrests to its Credit"
by Paul E. Kandarian; Boston Globe, April 25, 1999, South Weekly Pg. 8]
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Item #2 LARGO (FL) POLICE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE WEB SITE UP FOR AWARD
The Largo (FL) Police Department's three-year old domestic violence Internet site has been named one of 98 semifinalists for a Ford Foundation "Innovations in American Government" award that could net the department $100,000. The web site allows police to quickly and easily transfer video and other evidence taken at domestic violence calls to prosecutors and others authorized to have password-only access to the data.
[Source: "Web Site Against Violence Lauded" by Sharon Tubbs; St. Petersburg (FL) Times, April 28, 1999, Largo Times Pg. 1]
Item #3 U.S. BORDER PATROL USE OF IDENT FINGERPRINTING SYSTEM
The U.S. Border Patrol has had success using its IDENT automated fingerprinting system to identify smugglers and other illegal aliens previously stopped at the border. IDENT has been used for the past three years and now has almost a million records in the database it shares with other Federal law enforcement agencies. Florida law enforcement officers have used the system to arrest 396 repeat offenders.
[Source: "Computer System IDS Fingerprints" by Yves Colon; Miami Herald,
April 27, 1999, Pg. 1B]
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Item #4 MAINE STATE POLICE HAVE SUCCESS USING AFIS
The Maine State Police Crime Laboratory's new $3 million Automated Fingerprint Identification System-- established with Vermont and New Hampshire and based in Concord, NH-- has helped solve several crimes since it went online in August. As more fingerprint records are added to the database it should provide even more matches, and sheriff's departments in Cumberland and Androscoggin counties are testing Livescan equipment that would add records much more efficiently.
[Source: "Computers Turning into Crime Busters; A New Tri-State Database
of Fingerprints Gets to Work on Linking Criminals to Crimes" by Eric Blom;
Portland Press Herald, April 25, 1999]
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Item #5 TEXAS GANG-TRACKING DATABASE
The Texas Senate has approved Senate Bill 8 that would create a database
to track gang members across the state. The database-- to be administered
by the Texas Department of Public
Safety -- would includes photos, tattoos and other descriptive information
that would allow state and local law enforcement to track gang activity.
The bill next goes to the House as part of legislation that also proposes
creation of a Texas Violent Gang Task Force to reduce gang crime in the
state.
[Source: "76th Texas Legislature; Bill that could deter gang activity advances" by Julie Mason; Houston Chronicle, April 28, 1999, Pg. A17 and "Bill to Combat Prison Gangs Wins Approval in Senate" by John Moritz; Fort Worth (TX) Star-Telegram, April 15, 1999, Pg. 6]
Item #6 U.S. SENATE LOOKS AT Y2K IMPACT ON 911 SYSTEMS
The U.S. Senate Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem recently held hearings at which potential problems with 911 systems were identified. Testifiers included local and federal law enforcement officials. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) attempted to survey the problem earlier this year but only received 774 responses from 4,300 emergency communications centers that were queried about the Y2K-compliance of their 911 systems.
The hearing transcripts can be accessed at: http://www.senate.gov/~y2k/hearings/042999/index.html
[Source: "Police have doubts on year-2000 911 efficacy" by Jason Schultz; The Washington Times, April 30, 1999, Pg. A7]
COURT TECHNOLOGY NEWS
Item # 7 MANATEE COUNTY (FL) COURT OFFERS DRIVING RECORDS DATABASE TO PUBLIC
The Clerk of the Circuit Court in Manatee County, Florida recently became the first in the state to allow local residents to search the driving records of anyone in the state over a new computer system. The county plans to offer this searching capability over the Internet in the future.
[Source: "Court system checks driving records;" Sarasota Herald-Tribune (Manatee edition) April 16, 1999, Pg. 1B]
CORRECTIONS TECHNOLOGY NEWS
Item #8 VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT
OF CORRECTIONS IS 92% Y2K-COMPLIANT
The Virginia Department of Corrections effort at making its systems Y2K-compliant is 92% complete, according to the state's Century Date Change Initiative . Prisons need to look carefully at embedded chips in locks and other security systems in addition to checks on computer systems.
[Source: "State Prisons Working to Ensure Electronic Locks Withstand Y2K" by The Associated Press; Newport News (VA) Daily Press, May 3, 1999, Pg. B5]
CJITI Weekly News is compiled by Jeffrey Michaels jeffreym@mitretek.org