Gadgets Tested As Aids To Las Vegas Police In Field
Police officers in Las Vegas, Nev., are currently testing two palm-size wireless computers from Boston-based LocatePLUS, which offers a number of investigative tools.
The tools can be accessed from the Internet as well from the database of LocatePLUS. The firm claims that it can provide data on 98 percent of U.S. residents for law enforcement and government groups.
This information consists of names, dates of birth, addresses, Social Security numbers, properties owned, driver’s licenses, and so on.
Public documents can also be accessed. LocatePLUS vice president Steve Silva says the system costs $99 monthly, and some agencies in the East Coast have already implemented the service.
Silva says LocatePLUS would have been useful in the Rundle case, in which police conducted multiple manhunts in California, Washington state, and Florida.
Las Vegas homicide unit commander Lt. Tom Monahan says technology would help officers obtain data when it is most needed, in the moments just after a homicide.
Meanwhile, Las Vegas traffic officers are already using wireless personal digital assistants (PDAs) to issue citations and manage accident records.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from the Las Vegas Review-Journal (06/16/03) P. 1B; Kalil, J.M.