home > Unit 2: technology in Criminal Justice practice

Technology to protect public

• NIJ created National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Centers, each responsible for a given area of technology scientific development:
  • communications interoperability between jurisdictions
  • network for equipment and technology information database
  • surveillance technologies
  • procuring used military equipment for police.
    • detect hidden weapons (would let police detect weapons in a stopped car without putting them at risk, while doing same for school and airport security) Several types of technologies are currently being explored by the NLECTC center in Rome, New York. A few examples:
      • "passive millimeter wave (MMW) technology allowing rapid and remote detection of metallic and nonmetallic weapons, plastic explosives, drugs and other contraband concealed under multiple layers of clothing at a distance of up to 12 feet without a direct physical search. The technique relies on existing natural emissions from objects, and does not require man-made irradiation of a person. Although the technology literally sees through clothing, it does not reveal anatomical detail. ..includes development, fabrication and evaluation of a fixed-site camera that can be 'mounted on a cruiser, a monitoring console, and a proof-of-concept handheld camera with a video screen that is connected by cable to a signal analyzer box. Designs are to be developed for a totally portable, battery-powered camera and a standoff camera system suitable for use from a patrol car.'"
      • active approach using electromagnetic (EM) technology:, EM pulse emitted at person standing in portal. Difference in EM radiation reflected back from different materials permits id of metallic objects. Technology successfully demonstrated, now being picked up by commercial developers.
      • passive approach using fluxgate magnetometers. Anomalies in earth's magnetic field caused by metallic objects on individuals standing in a portal measured by magnetometers compared to computerized database containing the measurements of actual weapons. Should significantly reduce false alarm rate compared to currently available technologies.
      • active approach, using modified off-the-shelf Compton (back) scattered ray imaging system. Individual exposed to extremely low level of radiation (about the same level as 5 minutes of exposure to sun at sea level). x-rays don't penetrate the body to any significant degree -- reflected back. Picture developed electronically, in less than 1 second, from that reflected radiation. Different materials have different reflectivities, so operator can detect weapons or other contraband from images in the picture. Working with FAA, NIJ plans to integrate other sensors to enhance technology'sability to detect explosives and other kinds of contraband.
      • body-cavity search system using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology. Could be used for weapons and contraband detection in corrections and other applications.
• NIJ works with private industry to develop citizen protection technologies.
  • With Alliant Techsystems, Inc., created SECURES (Systems for the Effective Control of Urban Environment Security), which uses acoustic sensing to pinpoint the location of gunfire. By placing sonar detection modules in a grid through a gunplagued area of a city, SECURES an recognize and pinpoint gunfire, allowing police and emergency services to respond 85 percent faster than usual. Can monitor entire city block from one location, while filtering out similar sounds, like that of a car backfiring. If placed on top of a traffic signal, can monitor all four intersecting streets at one time. Civil libertarians worry that the use of gunshot detectors and video cameras, like those installed in a 16-block stretch of downtown Baltimore monitoring the area 24 hours a day, will eventually encroach on personal privacy, but citizens living in these tough neighborhoods welcome intervention. "Said one Washington, D.C., woman, 'If they build a robo-cop, he can stand guard in my yard.'' (Bowles, 1996).
  • Drug Use Forecasting program.
    Forerunner program was NIJ research on results of urine tests given to arrestees in New York City and Washington, D.C. Found more than half had been using drugs, like cocaine, PCP or heroin, during 48 hours prior to test, and that at least 1/3 used more than one drug. Earlier NIJ research showed multiple drug use was one of the most salient characteristics of serious, habitual offenders.High-risk individuals, such as heroin addicts, committed 4-6x more crime whenon drugs than when they were relatively drug free. Pretrial services agency in DC used data to develop urinalysis tests for arrestees to give judges a way of determining who could be released before trial and under what conditions. Late 1980s, found another way to use this information: used drug habits of offender population to warn local law enforcement about drugs that might soon become widespread. Program gives local officials info they need to allocate drug control resources and to gain understanding of extent and nature of drug use in offender populations.
  • Machines that detect drugs or explosives on nearly any surface. Desktop or handheld, can spot minute particles. User wipes an area with treated swab, inserts swab in the machine. In seconds, detects molecular composition of substance.
    • x-ray machine to detect contraband in 18-wheeler trucks crossing the border, finding drugs, guns, and even fruits and vegetables. Built to detect Soviet missile warheads in trucks. Can't find contraband indensely packed areas of trailers -- smugglers adjusted.

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