Cutting-Edge Law Enforcement Technologies for Modern Crimes

1. Chapter Fourteen Technology Review: Tools for the Task

2. New Technologies For Old Problems Applying computer technology • Ohio State Police use technology to read license plates looking for stolen cars or wanted plate numbers • Handheld voice translators being tested by several police agencies

3. New Technologies For Old Problems • Wireless mesh networking system in Ripon, California, provides real-time video to officers in the field and office • New system used in New Jersey to test blood alcohol levels • Use of web-based database of registered sex offenders • Use of GIS to protect citizens against domestic violence

4. New Technologies For Old Problems • Use of voice-stress analysis software when interrogating suspects • Investigation case files on CD • Special software being used in Arizona to scan Western Union transfers • Use of biometrics at borders to verify identity and compare to watch lists of terrorists, criminals

5. Technology Versus Terrorists • September 11, 2001 changed the way law enforcement agencies approached their mission • Also set in motion research and development of new technologies for protecting us from terrorist acts

6. Technology Versus Terrorists • A low-dose X-ray imager can see through garments to detect stashed weapons, drugs, contraband • Surveillance cameras can scan faces and feed images to a database of digital mug shots for a match • Better bomb-detecting technology

7. Development of Less-Lethal Weapons • Chemical weapons • CN gas (1869) • Chemical Mace • CS gas (1928) • Greater effect than CN • CR gas (1962) • 6 times more potent than CS and 20 times more potent than CN

8. Development of Less-Lethal Weapons • Wooden bullets proved to be fatal • Rubber bullets caused severe bruising and shock • Water cannons • Sound Curdler • Amplified speakers that produced loud shrieking noises

9. Development of Less-Lethal Weapons • Beanbag guns • Capable of knocking down a 200 pound person at a range of 300 feet • Strobe lights • Caused giddiness, fainting, nausea • Taser (1974)

10. Development of Less-Lethal Weapons • 23% of all municipal police agencies and 30% of sheriff’s offices authorize use of Taser or stun gun • Taser Cam • Wake Forest University study (2007) • Nearly 1,000 cases studied • 99.7% resulted in only mild injuries or no injuries at all

11. Development of Less-Lethal Weapons • Only three subjects (0.3%) suffered injuries severe enough to need hospitalization • Since 1986, NIJ has maintained a Less-Lethal Technologies Program • Pepper spray

12. Use of Wireless Technology • Mobile data systems • Computer-aided dispatching (CAD) • Integrated databases • Crime mapping • Automated Regional Justice Information System (ARJIS) • San Diego County • First multi-agency interactive crime mapping Web site in the nation

13. Use of Wireless Technology • Process mapping • Naperville, Illinois • As-is map • Should-be map • Could-be map • Locating of serial offenders • Geographic profiling

14. Use of Wireless Technology • Homicide Investigation and Tracking System (HITS) • Gunshot Locator System • Tested in Chicago • Can pinpoint the location of a gunshot in less than one second

15. Electronics in Traffic Functions • Accident investigations • Some agencies use GPS to determine vehicle location and damage, elevation, grade, radii of curves, and critical speed • Version of a surveyor’s “total station” • Electronically measuring and recording distances, angles, and elevations

16. Electronics in Traffic Functions • Allows officers to get 40% more measurements in about 40% less time • This system is also being used at major crime scenes, such as murders • Arrests of impaired drivers • Portable breath-screening device • Can be attached to laptop or notebook

17. Electronics in Traffic Functions • Prevention of high-speed pursuits • Tire spikes • Limits in times and places • New device stops the vehicle with a short pulse of electric current that disrupts the ignition system • This device is still being refined

18. DNA • All 50 states have laws allowing for the collection of DNA from those convicted of sexual assault or other violent crimes • At the end of 1999 nearly 750,000 DNA samples gathered and accessible to police agencies • Backlog of samples to be processes

19. Databases for Fingerprints and Mug Shots • Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) • Sharing of fingerprints • Can provide a match within a few hours and helped solve more than 5,000 crimes • WIN-PHO (digital photo) added to supplement fingerprint data

20. Databases for Fingerprints and Mug Shots • Integrated electronic imaging identification system • Used by Boston PD • First system of its kind in North America • Scan prisoner’s fingerprints, take digital photographs, and store to a central server • Saves transporting prisoner to booking

21. New Technologies For Crime Scenes • Three-dimensional CAD (3-D CAD) • Create scenes that can be viewed from any angle • Juries can “view” crime scenes and see location of evidence • Maya • Software for the field of forensic animation

22. New Technologies For Crime Scenes • Department of Energy is testing a prototype laptop computer • Equipped with digital video and still cameras, laser range finders, and GPS • Allows a detective to “beam” information from the crime scene back to a lab for input from experts

23. Developments With Firearms • Computer-Assisted Training • FATS – Firearms training system • “As close to real life as you can get” • When to shoot and when not to shoot • Shootback cannon • Use of gun “fingerprints” to solve cases • Creating a database of fingerprints of new guns

24. Gang Intelligence Systems • CALGANG • Intranet software package that is a clearinghouse for individual gang members, the places they frequent or live, and the cars they drive

25. Robotics • Fitted with video capability, including night vision, a camera, a Taser, and even two-way communication • Bomb sniffing robots • Major constraint is the cost of acquisition