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CENTER FOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE TECHNOLOGY
WEEKLY NEWS:
#1 Mandeville (LA) Police get laptop computers #2 Cold hit from NY DNA database solves '79 murder case #3 North Carolina testing e-ticketing system #4 Gilberts (IL) Police get grant for squad car laptops #5 Wise County (VA) Circuit Court Cam Web trials #6 Hardin County (TX) Court use of video arraignment #7 Tulsa County (OK) use of ankle monitors #8 High-tech
improvements to Bergen County (NJ) Jail
LAW ENFORCEMENT TECHNOLOGY NEWS Through COPS MORE grants awarded to the St. Tammany Parish (Louisiana) Law Enforcement Consortium, the Mandeville Police Department will receive 30 laptop computers for squad cars. Officers will use the computers for preparing reports and running their own checks of state and federal criminal records databases. The St. Tammany Consortium was awarded over $2 million to fund the squad car laptop purchase for law enforcement departments throughout the parish. [Source: "Police to Have Their Own Laptops" by Richard Boyd; The Times-Picayune (Mandeville, LA edition) February 27, 2000] Item #2 COLD HIT FROM NY DNA DATABASE SOLVES '79 MURDER CASE The Westchester County (New York) District Attorney's Office has charged an inmate at the Sing Sing prison with the 1979 murder of a young mother, using DNA evidence collected from prisoners for the state's DNA database. The inmate is currently serving time for burglary, an example of why Governor Pataki is proposing a DNA database of samples taken from all classes of convicted criminals in the state. [Source: "DNA Match Implicates Inmate in '79 Murder, Officials Say" by C. J. Chivers; New York Times, March 13, 2000, Pg. B1] Item #3 NORTH CAROLINA TESTING E-TICKETING SYSTEM North Carolina is testing the use are testing an electronic traffic-ticket recording system designed to save money by eliminating handwriting errors and other delays in processing caused by paper forms. The Fayetteville Police Department and the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office will experiment with the new system, sending e-tickets directly from squad car computers to the state traffic court. [Source: "New traffic-ticket system uses computers, no paper;" The News and Observer (Raleigh, NC) March 18, 2000, Pg. A3] Item #4 GILBERTS (IL) POLICE GET GRANT FOR SQUAD CAR LAPTOPS The Village of Gilberts (Illinois) Police Department has been awarded a $14,631 grant from the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority to buy two new squad car laptop computers. Two department vehicles currently have older model mobile data terminals that are scheduled to be retired in 2002, and the new computers will upgrade the department's communications capability. [Source: "Gilberts police hit the jackpot again" by Jennifer Patterson; Chicago (IL) Daily Herald, March 13, 2000] COURT TECHNOLOGY NEWS
Item #5 WISE COUNTY (VA) CIRCUIT COURT CAM WEB TRIALS The Wise County (Virginia) Circuit Court recently held its first live Internet trial via its Circuit Court Cam , perhaps the first video arraignment in Virginia history. A prison inmate charged with the stabbing of a guard was arraigned using videoconferencing equipment at the prison, reducing transportation costs and improving security. The Web site will also allow viewers to learn more about the court system. [Source: "Wise County Pioneers Internet Court; People With Proper Software Can Watch Court Proceedings" by Laurence Hammack; The Roanoke (VA) Times & World News, March 12, 2000, Pg. B1] Item #6 HARDIN COUNTY (TX) COURT USE OF VIDEO ARRAIGNMENT Internet video hearings are being held in Hardin County, Texas, where the office of the Justice of the Peace is more than 20 miles from the Kountze jail. The cost savings is expected to reach thousands of dollars a year, and the court will be much more efficient through the reduction in travel time for the judge. [Source: "Hardin County arraignments happen on Web page instead of courtroom;" The Associated Press State & Local Wire, March 1, 2000] CORRECTIONS TECHNOLOGY NEWS
Item # 7 TULSA COUNTY (OK) USE OF ANKLE MONITORS Tulsa County, Oklahoma's Pre-Trial Release Program will soon begin placing leased ankle monitors on selected sentenced offenders to improve the safety of domestic abuse and stalking victims. The monitors will be leased for $8.50 per day, less than the $36.76 it would cost the county to keep the offenders in jail. Victims will be given alarms that will activate if the offender is nearby, violating a protective orders, and the monitor system will immediately summon police. [Source: "High-tech systems update justice" by Tim Hoover; The Tulsa (OK) World, March 13, 2000] Item #8 HIGH-TECH IMPROVEMENTS TO BERGEN COUNTY (NJ) JAIL The new expansion to the Bergen County Jail in Hackensack, New Jersey includes over 100 closed-circuit cameras as well as state-of-the-art computer-controlled doors and fences throughout the facility. The $60 million renovation will allow the jail to hold 1,128 inmates, up from its previous capacity of 855, when it is completed in the near future. [Source: "New Jail Ready to Open for Business; Electronic Controls are State-of-the-Art" by Hugh R. Morley; The Record (Bergen County, NJ) February 29, 2000, Pg. A1] Center for Criminal Justice Technology Weekly News is compiled
by Jeffrey Michaels jeffreym@mitretek.org
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Created by V. Logan |