Public Safety Technology in the News

Police Selling Old Tasers for Public Safety Use
Dothan Eagle, (04/21/2010), Debbie Ingram
The Dothan (Ala.) Police Department plans to offer up more than 100 Tasers to other law enforcement agencies via donation and direct sale. Dothan upgraded to a newer Taser model in September 2006, and has decided to surplus older models purchased in 2003 and 2004. Some 64 surplus Tasers, originally purchased at a cost of $400 each, will be offered to other local agencies for $100. Of the remaining 30 units, 20 will go to the Dothan Police Auxiliary Unit and the Dothan-Houston County Airport Police, while 10 can be exchanged for new models. The city manager said that repair parts are no longer available for the surplus units, but they still have value to departments that have no budget to purchase Tasers at all.
www2.dothaneagle.com/dea/news/local/article/police_selling_old_tasers_for_pub
lic_safety_use_only/147226/

$3M grant Will Digitize State Prosecution's Records
The Bristol Press, (04/20/2010), Lisa Backus
A $3 million grant will allow Connecticut to digitize all of its traffic and arrest records, eliminating the need to store paper files of every active case. In FY2008-2009, the state oversaw the disposition of 334,743 criminal and motor vehicle cases, with additional work taking place on 116,525 pending cases. Many police departments throughout the state already produced their reports electronically, but the State's Attorney's Office had no way to receive digital records. The new electronic case management system will go live in 2013 and will include links to share information with other criminal justice databases. The eventual goal is a system that all law enforcement agencies in the state can access and use.
www.bristolpress.com/articles/2010/04/20/news/doc4bce549279c58395889438.txt

State Prisons' Chief Details Effort to Crack Down on Illegal Cell Phone Use Among Inmates
newjerseynewsroom.com, (04/22/2010), Tom Hester, Sr.
New Jersey has implemented new procedures to reduce illegal possession of cell phones by prison inmates. The new process includes strip searching all inmates on entry into a correctional facility and also examining them with an orifice security scanner. Prison uniforms will no longer include metal accessories and all inmates must pass through metal detectors on a routine basis. All visitors will be patted down and a new software program will send alerts about suspicious financial activity in an inmate's prison account. New Jersey was already the first state in the country to train dogs in cell phone detection. The state will also implement more intensive screening for correctional officer recruits and increase training on investigating backgrounds and potential gang affiliations.
www.newjerseynewsroom.com/state/state-prisons-chief-d
etails-effort-to-crackdown-on-illegal-cell-phone-use-among-inmates


N.J. Prisons Face Staff Layoffs, Double Bunking of Inmates With $74M in Budget Cuts
NJ.com, (04/22/2010), Chris Megerian/Statehouse Bureau
The New Jersey Department of Corrections is coming up with some creative ways to deal with spending cuts, including providing inmates with tennis shoes instead of work boots. The DOC will also use more volunteers for education and counseling services and double-bunk in state correctional facilities.
www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/04/nj_prisons_to_house_more_inmat.html

Inmates Drop 1966 Suit Over Access to Law Books
San Francisco Chronicle, (04/22/2010), Bob Egelko
Because the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has adopted a new policy that allows all inmates to visit prison law libraries, a lawsuit dating back to 1966 that would have given inmates access to law books to challenge their convictions and disciplinary violations has been dropped. Lawyers in that suit said they will ask judges to enforce the new policy if it becomes necessary. Only two of the inmates who filed the original suit remain in custody.
www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/04/21/BA8Q1D2948.DTL&tsp=1

Pensacola Police Put Crime on the Map
pnj.com, (04/26/2010)
The Pensacola (Fla.) Police Department has added a link to its Web site that will allow residents to view a map of recent crimes in their neighborhoods. The department has joined many others across the country in employing the services of CrimeReports to provide this service to residents. In addition to the daily updates to the map, residents can also sign up to receive e-mail alerts about crime in specific areas. The map will provide the location of crimes such as breaking and entering, theft, assault, vehicle theft and robbery, but not sexual assaults.
www.pnj.com/article/20100426/NEWS01/4260313

Police Ask Teens to Join Crime Fight
Houston Chronicle, (04/24/2010), Cindy Horswell
Police departments in Houston and Baytown, Texas, are testing a Crime Stoppers program that promotes anonymous texting of tips and target teens. More than one-third of teens with cell phones reportedly send at least 100 texts a day, and the departments plan to take advantage of this trend. Initial response to the program has been cautiously positive, as teens expressed some concerns about how anonymity is maintained. The program processes all messages through an outside server that encrypts the sender's identity. The sender then receives a code that can be used to collect a reward if the tip solves a crime, and can also use the code to text back and forth to answer police questions.
www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6974787.html

New Law On Counting Prisoners Could Help Baltimore
WJZ-TV, (04/25/2010)
In the 2010 Census, Maryland has decided that inmates will be considered residents of the jurisdiction in which they last lived, not residents of the area in which the prison is located. As much as 60 percent of the state's prison population comes from Baltimore, meaning that city will benefit from this decision. Reaction to this decision has been mixed, with positive reaction coming from urban areas and negative reaction coming from rural areas where facilities are located.
wjz.com/wireapnewsmd/New.Maryland.law.2.1655748.html

Webcam Program Helps Parents Communicate With Incarcerated Kids
Wisconsin State Journal, (04/25/2010)
Dane County in Wisconsin is using a new video link located at the county juvenile center to allow parents to have virtual visits with their children who are incarcerated in juvenile facilities. This allows families to keep in touch when distance makes face-to-face visits difficult. Dane County became the second county in the state to implement such a system, and officials anticipate increased use as parents become aware of the service. The system was funded by a $1,500 grant from the state Office of Justice Assistance, and it began operations in January 2010.
host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/crime_and_courts/article_03872256-50d0-11df-a6c2-001cc4c03286.html

U.S. Prosecutors Rattle, But Don't Break, Mexican Cartels
Los Angeles Times, (4/25/2010), Richard A. Serrano
A crackdown by U.S. prosecutors on Mexican drug lords is sending offenders to prison and disrupting the cartels activities, but not breaking them. Ten cartel leaders from Mexico have been convicted in U.S. courts in the last two years. Three leaders in Chicago and another in Brooklyn, N.Y., have been indicted in drug racketeering operations involving large quantities of heroin, cocaine and marijuana. Recently, four cartel figures were convicted in San Diego of leading organizations that smuggled tons of drugs into the U.S., carried out assassinations and bribed Mexican authorizes with millions of dollars. The men received sentences ranging from 30 years to life in prison with no chance of parole. However, the cartels have promoted other individuals to the vacant leadership positions, and the violence among the cartels continues. Justice Department spokeswoman Laura Sweeny said the convictions have helped investigators and prosecutors gather valuable intelligence on the in! ner workings of the cartels.
www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-cartels-prison-20100426,0,323230.story

Bill Would Reallocate Spectrum for Public Safety Use
Tech Daily Dose, (04/21/2010), Juliana Gruenwald
A bill has been introduced in Congress to require that spectrum slated for auction to commercial bidders be set aside for public safety use. The bill would allocate the D-block of spectrum in the 700 MHz band for public safety use and reserve an additional 10 MHz as well. In a statement, bill sponsor Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., said the proposal would double the amount of broadband spectrum that is currently allocated for public safety use. The Federal Communications Commission, in its broadband plan, proposed auctioning off the D-block of spectrum to a commercial bidder, who could, but would not be required to, allow public safety to use it. The National Governors Association and other state and local groups contend that the FCC proposal would not ensure that emergency first responders have reliable communications capabilities.
techdailydose.nationaljournal.com/2010/04/bill-would-reallocate-spectrum.php