Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Federal Technology Grants Scarce for Cash-Strapped Police Departments

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2003 19:10:06 -0400

Federal Technology Grants Scarce for Cash-Strapped Police Departments

Many local police departments in the U.S. can only imagine having instant
roadside access to databases that contain crucial information about criminal
suspects, because money to fund such systems is scarce. Federal grants to
fund technology upgrades were commonplace in the 1990s, but for all the
emphasis on homeland security, such grants are now harder to obtain.

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HARTFORD -- Madison Police Chief Paul D.
Jakubson sees a not-too-distant future in which
police officers can look up a suspect's criminal,
prison and driving records, review his court
attendance and restraining orders and find out
whether he is a registered sex offender or a
resident alien.

All from the side of the road and all with the
touch of a button.

The technology exists, and officers say it's the
future of law enforcement. But it's not cheap
and despite all the talk of homeland security, the
technology grants that traditionally paid for such
upgrades are harder to come by.

"It all costs money," Jakubson said last week as
police chiefs from around the state toured an
exhibition hall full of the latest in police
technology.

Jakubson, the Connecticut Police Chiefs
Association's technology guru, said only a
handful of departments will be able to spring for upgrades this year: those lucky
enough to have found grant money and those that can justify replacing old
equipment.

In the next 18 months, the state will institute two major technology programs that
will both change the face of policing and force many departments to find money for
new technology.

The first will come in September, when the state's $10 million Offender Based
Tracking System goes online. The second is the Automated Fingerprint
Identification System, a complete overhaul of the current program that is expected
to be operational sometime next year.

The tracking system will connect every state judicial agency, giving police,
prosecutors, probation officers and judges immediate access to everything in a
person's criminal record.

That's how the system should be working now and police say most people
probably believe officers already have that kind of information at their fingertips.

"They don't," said Enfield Deputy Chief Raymond Bouchard, whose department is
one of several participating in an OBTS pilot program. "That's the reality of it.
We're just now getting there. The software is just beginning to equal the hardware."

There is no clearinghouse for state criminal data. Individual agencies have their own
databases stored on their own computer systems. Some are compatible. Some are
not.

A traditional background check falls short in many areas. Officers are not alerted if
a driver is a registered sex offender prohibited from having a child passenger. A
traffic stop usually will not reveal a restraining order, even if the driver is pulled
over across from the house he has been ordered to stay away from.

"The data is generally out there," Jim McGavin of Sierra Systems, a state
contractor working on the new system, said. "But there's not any one way to go
and get it."

That will all change in September, with the $6 million version of OBTS. An
additional $4 million in upgrades will follow.

"I think that finally, where people have thought we were, we will be," Bouchard
said.

Departments will not be charged for the system upgrade, but only those with
mobile computers in their cruisers will have roadside access to the network as it
expands. Buying them is up to towns.

Federal grants for technology upgrades were commonplace in the 1990s, when
Enfield began buying its laptops. Now such grants are drying up.

"The homeland security money right now is being kept at the state level," said
Jakubson, the Madison chief who has equipped about half his fleet with laptops.

The fingerprint system in most booking rooms still relies on ink. If officers want a
criminal history based on fingerprints, they mail the card to the state police. A few
days later, they get the results back.

By that time, the suspect is usually long gone.

When the new AFIS system is released, departments will get that data in real time.
And it won't be limited to state information; FBI fingerprint records will be
available, too.

Such convenience comes at a cost. The $2 ink pads will be history, replaced by
electronic fingerprint scanners that cost between $30,000 and $60,000.

Some cities, the ones that generate the most arrests, already have state-funded
machines. But many departments will have to find the equivalent of one officer's
salary to buy their own machines.

"It's a substantial cost," said Bouchard, whose said his department is fortunate
because it received a scanner from the state. "And the grants just aren't there like
they used to be."

State Police Sgt. Dan Fialla, who is part of the effort to overhaul the fingerprint
system, said the state is looking for a vendor to provide the technology. Once the
funding for the $5 million to $10 million project is lined up, he said, the arduous
task of scanning every town's fingerprint cards begins.

Police are counting on the technology paying off.

"Right now it's days at best," Fialla said. "We're talking minutes. Being able to
positively identify the person you have in custody is a big advantage."

Originally published Monday, April 28, 2003

http://www.norwichbulletin.com/news/stories/20030428/localnews/198482.html