Subject: [NEXTEL-1] New cell phones to help find abducted children

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2004 13:45:10 -0400

New cell phones to help find abducted children
(Note: Wirehound's product will work on any J2ME phone,  notj ust
Nextels')
Thursday, 17, 2004
By Tim Younkman

TIMES WRITER

A new weapon in the Homeland Security arsenal looks like a cell phone,
acts like a cell phone and sounds like a cell phone.
But it could help a police officer find an abducted child.

"This has the capability of displaying the latest Amber Alert message
and picture of the child," said Sgt. James Chlebowski, of the Bay County
Sheriff's Office.

The pocket telephone display
scrolls through a nationwide list
of missing
persons, including children,
and displays pictures and
descriptions of the
individuals. A new message
will automatically alert the
officer.

"If you hit another button, you
are put in direct contact with
the police department that put
out the alert," Chlebowski
said. "This could help
tremendously identifying a
lost child you have found or
in alerting police about who is
missing."

The Sheriff's Office recently purchased six of the Nextel phones (Note:
Wirehound's product will work on any J2ME phone, not Just Nextel's) and
armed them with software through Wirehound, a Nevada-based company that
is expanding the technology of the cell phones to benefit law
enforcement and public safety.

Funding for the phones came through the Homeland Security Department,
said Undersheriff Joel Luethjohann.
The county was given about $2,800 to purchase the phones, and the
software and money should be available in the future to help maintain
the system, Chlebowski said.

The phones can transmit and receive information through the national Law
Enforcement Information Network to determine if an individual is wanted
for questioning or if there are warrants out. Information on driver's
licenses and records also are available.
"It saves some time and it allows the officer to receive the information
directly," Luethjohann said.

Wirehound is on the cutting edge of technology aimed at homeland
security across the nation, said company CEO Ron White.
The company also has developed systems for facial recognition scanners
in airports and other high-traffic areas. It helps security officers
identify and detain anyone who poses a threat or who already is on a
restricted person list.
The scanned facial image is sent to a central database; when it finds a
match it sends the information right back to the officer.
Cell phones in the future also will be able to record and send
fingerprints to a database for a matching identification, White said.
The most promising use of the cell phone technology for police is in the
Amber Alert notice, which broadcasts a message about an abducted child.

Through an Internet consortium of companies across the country, it is
possible to issue a localized, regional or national alert of an abducted
child in minutes instead of hours.

"It had taken about three hours to get out an alert, but that has been
reduced to between 10 and 15 minutes," White said. It means children
have a much better chance of being spotted by alert police and citizens
than ever before.
"The image of the child will be sent to the media and to cell phone
users, and to such places as casinos and lottery machines where people
can see them," White said. Citizens will get the image right away and
millions of eyes could be on the lookout for the abductor and child.

All of the software is transferable not only to cell phones but to the
laptop or in-car computers used by police officers.
White, a retired Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy, said customers in
Michigan besides Bay County include the Monroe County Sheriff's
Department and the city police of Monroe and Milan.

- Tim Younkman covers area police agencies for The Times. He can be
contacted at 894-9652.

http://www.mlive.com/news/bctimes/index.ssf?/base/news-3/1087485400262390.xml

© 2004 Bay City Times

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    "NEXTEL-1 IT'S NOT JUST NEXTEL"
  Note The New address 
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