Public Safety Technology in the News

Anti-Crowding Measures Save Metro Jail $1.2 million
Courier-Journal, (12/01/2009), Jessie Halladay

Steps taken by officials in Louisville, Ky., to reduce crowding in the Metro Corrections jail have translated into a $1.2 million savings for the city. In 2008, a commission comprising judges, defense attorneys, prosecutors and members of the community issued 37 recommendations to improve conditions and reduce crowding. As of December 2009, jail director Mike Bolton said 25 of the recommendations have been implemented or are in progress. Plans include a day-reporting program, under which the jail will oversee offenders not housed in the jail. The cost of housing an inmate at the jail is $64 a day, compared with $24 a day to monitor the person in the community. The jail has also worked with the Kentucky Department of Corrections to expedite the transfer of jail inmates to state prisons. The result is that a 126-bed facility at the metro police headquarters has been vacant for a year, saving. $1.2 million. The program’s initial costs are being paid for with a $500,000 feder! al grant. The department also is implementing an electronic bond payment system to allow suspects to post their own bond with a credit card at a jail kiosk or family members to post bond online. The department will also be testing a GPS monitoring system.
www.courier-journal.com/article/20091201/NEWS01/912010350/Anti-crowding+measures+save+metro+jail+$1.2+million

State to Let Cops Use Stun Guns, With Limits, Joining Rest of U.S.
NorthJersey.com (11/24/2009), Karen Sudol and William Lamb

New Jersey is the latest, and last, state to allow law enforcement officers to use stun guns. The state’s policy restricts when officers can use the devices. The policy allows trained police officers to use the weapons only against emotionally disturbed individuals who are armed and refuse to surrender. Other restrictions include prohibiting the use against people who refuse to comply with an officer’s order to move, drop to the ground or exit a vehicle. New Jersey officers also can’t use stun guns on people who are handcuffed or in moving vehicles. Also, before using a stun gun on a person on an elevated surface, officers would have to make an effort to prevent or minimize injury. The number of stun guns distributed will be based on the size of a city’s or town’s police department.
www.northjersey.com/news/72196417.html

U.S., Canada Will Share Refugee Fingerprints
CBC News (11/24/2009)

The United States has agreed to share fingerprints with Canada, Australia and Britain to combat illegal immigration and verify claims of refugee status. The program will use fingerprints and other methods to confirm identity, travel and immigration history. During a trial run of the program two years ago, the U.S. and Canada exchanged fingerprints on 343 refugee claimants, one-third of which had applied to live in both countries, and 5 percent had a criminal history in the U.S. Canadian authorities say all fingerprints will be destroyed once people become successful refugee claimants or Canadian citizens.
www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/11/24/biometrics-refugees024.html

Text-a-Tip Programs Help Promote School Safety
eSchoolNews.com, (12/01/2009)

A program that allows citizens to submit anonymous tips through cell phone texting is helping police solve crimes. One provider of the text-a-tip technology has about 400 law enforcement agencies as clients, including Seattle, Miami and San Diego. The system allows citizens to submit a text message of up to 160 characters to police, who can then send messages back to ask follow-up questions. Police can’t identify the sender of the text because the messages are sent to a separate, third-party server, which strips out identifying information and assigns an encrypted alias before forwarding the message to police. Boston police credit the program for providing key leads in four high-profile killings. The program has also proved useful for enhancing school and campus security. In Douglas County, Colo., a text message about a student’s “kill list” led police to weapons in the child’s home. Campus police at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles have used the techn! ology to receive tips about rowdy fans at football games.
www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/news-by-subject/safety-security/index.cfm?i=62020

Buckeye Police Use $250,000 Grant Funds to Buy Armored Vehicle
Arizona Republic, (12/03/20009), Jackee Coe

An Arizona SWAT team is getting a new armored vehicle courtesy of a grant from the federal government. The Buckeye Police Department was awarded the $250,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Urban Area Security Initiative. The BearCat Tactical Armored Vehicle, to be delivered in spring 2010, will provide ballistic protection for a SWAT team during critical situations. The vehicle also features gun ports to allow officers to fire from within the vehicle; chemical, biological, radiological and environmental capabilities should there be an incident at a nearby nuclear generating station; and multiple spotlights. The city’s SWAT team has 16 police officers; a 10-person tactical support unit is available to assist the team when necessary.
www.azcentral.com/community/swvalley/articles/2009/12/03/20091203swv-buckeyeswat1204.html

SFPD, SFMTA Agree to Boost Police Presence on Muni
KTVU.com, (11/24/2009)

Results from a crime pattern tracking system have prompted police to place more officers on San Francisco Municipal Railway trains and buses. The CompStat crime pattern tracking system relies on the recording of detailed statistics to identify crime patterns. Individual police captains are held accountable for crime in their districts. Deployment of resources is based on crime analysis, community complaints and the concerns of bus and rail operators. Uniformed officers will be added to the bus and rail lines identified as having the most crimes, including assaults, thefts and graffiti. The police department and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency will also be coordinating stepped up enforcement of fare evasion laws.
www.ktvu.com/news/21707668/detail.html

Cold Case Could Get New Look
Stillwater-NewsPress, (12/04/2009), Chelcey Adami

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation is using a $500,000 federal grant to fund a cold case unit. The grant from the National Institute of Justice, which will last 18 months, will pay for facilities, new positions and overtime. The unit is based at OSBI headquarters in Oklahoma City. OSBI agents typically have a caseload of 15 to 17 cases at any given time, about seven of which are classified as cold cases. One cold case investigators are hoping to solve is a murder case from the late 1990s. Grant guidelines state that any cold cases reopened must have DNA for a suspect profile.
www.stillwater-newspress.com/local/local_story_338124310.html

New Dispatching System Maps 911 Calls
BolivarMoNews.com, (12/04/2009), Sarah West

The Polk County (Missouri) Emergency 911 Center has replaced its five-year-old computer-aided dispatch system with a CAD system that can map calls to within three meters of the point of origin. The new system, installed in August, validates addresses, indicates officers and units on duty, keeps all calls in progress onscreen, and has automatic time stamps. Because the new system is map based, police can generally trace hang-up calls to an address. A training module in the system allows users to train on the system without affecting what other workers are doing.
www.bolivarmonews.com/articles/2009/12/04/news/doc4b183b2f91c19214378236.txt