12-16-2007 North Carolina
Technology advances every year, and local law enforcement agencies are trying to take advantage of it to deter and solve crimes.
Last week, Jim Sidler, director of marketing for Securus Technologies, presented the biometric face recognition system to members of the Rockingham County Sheriff's Office.
Sheriff Sam Page said he is seeking ways to modernize a new jail. Though it will be two years before the building is complete, Page has started to look at new technology.
Sidler said the current system of mug shots and fingerprints have flaws. The wrong criminal can be released from large prisons when their first mugshot looks nothing like their preset physical appearance. Fingerprints have a large range of fallibility, and accurate prints cannot be taken of laborers whose prints have been rubbed off after years of heavy work.
Identity is difficult for officers in the field, too. A deputy may arrest someone, but if the person produces no documents proving who he or she is, there's no way of proving if the arrestee is a common resident or a wanted criminal.
"One of the worst feelings for a law enforcement officer is not knowing who you have in the back of the car," Sidler said. "Are they a drug dealer or serial killer?"
A biometric system takes a three-dimensional picture of a person's face and compares faces using 20,000 points of reference. "The more points of match we have, the more accurate the system is," Sidler said.
The precise facial measurements give the system 99.2 percent accuracy. Sidler said an image of a new arrestee can be compared to a database of other mug shots nationwide. If the same face has been linked to several aliases, the system displays that, too.
Images can be taken in the field, just after an arrest or when an inmate is brought to a prison. The system can also track visitors. Sidler said several people were caught carrying messages between imprisoned gang members. Some were even identified as being wanted on old charges.
"I think this system would better protect the public," Page said. "I think it's a direction we want to go in."
There are drawbacks. The system's national database is still being built, so record access would be limited. Sidler said each camera runs about $13,000. Page said Rockingham County would probably start off with two cameras to use when booking arrestees.
"We could look at grants to pay for the system," Page said. "But it all depends on the cost of the system."
Old ways of monitoring criminals are quickly being replaced with more accurate methods. More detailed methods were used first by national agencies, but now even Rockingham County boasts highly developed crime-fighting tools.
The Eden Police Department has its own collection of technology. It is the only agency in the county with a computer lab. Detective William East analyzes computers belonging to people charged with possessing child pornography or committing identity theft.
"Whether you know it or not, any time a computer is started it makes a record," East said. If a computer is confiscated for evidence, investigators cannot alter it. East uses a device that analyzes hard drives and can rebuild information that was deleted without altering anything.
"The software recreates data that's been deleted, so any photo or graph you've looked at, the computer stores," East said.
East described a case of a man facing child-porn charges. He pleaded innocent until Eden police confiscated his computer. Though the man normally used a program that completely hid the sites and pictures he accessed, it malfunctioned long enough to leave three photos on the hard drive. When the man learned police had reconstructed incriminating evidence, he changed his plea to guilty.
While the computer lab has useful software, there is one new piece of software on East's wishlist.
"It tracks IP (internet protocol) addresses," he said. "I'm hoping to get software that reads IP addresses that have been to a certain Web site and then allows me to track the number to the house. Now, we're having to call Time Warner and ask for information."
Eden is also installing mobile data terminals for police cars and hopes to soon have one for each officer. Capt. Greg Light said MDTs save time in the field.
"Officers can run tag numbers and license numbers from their car," Light said. " The system runs on a wireless system they can pick up pretty much anywhere."
The Reidsville Police Department installed surveillance cameras downtown but will soon install portable cameras that can be moved to areas residents feel have regular drug traffic.
Chief Edd Hunt said the downtown cameras have already made a big difference, and he is excited to see what surveillance elsewhere will change.
"We're very proud of what it's done so far, and we believe that's worked," Hunt said.
Police cars will soon have mobile reporting units, as well as new in-car cameras that automatically download to the department's database when an officer parks in the department's wireless Internet hotspot.
"It'll be automatic so the officers don't have to spend time putting the video on a disk and bringing it in," Hunt said.
A new barcoding system will minimize how much police handle crime-scene evidence. Each piece will be given a barcode, and inventory is done with a lower risk of altering pieces. A digital crash reporting system will cut paperwork for officers at scenes, and a template will show the 50 intersections with the most accidents.
Reidsville police expect to soon have suspect composite sketch software. Because trained composite artists are not widespread, a witness description of a suspect is drawn with the software and is immediately available to investigators and the media.
While old-fashioned crime fighting will never be better than technology, it does keep officers safer and helps solve cases faster.
"It all saves time and keeps officers out on the streets instead of them having to come in to write reports." Hunt said. ..more.. by Heather J. Smith can be reached at hsmith@reidsvillereview.com or 349-4331, ext. 16.
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