High-Tech Tool Helps Police Nab Criminals
Jeffrey Burton works as a digital imaging specialist for the Plymouth Sheriff’s Department in Massachusetts, which often entails processing video footage from banks, ATM machines, and stores. His goal is to identify relevant portions of evidence that clearly depict criminal acts and sift it from hours of non-relevant footage.
He relies on a video assessment tool called VideoFOCUS, which was highlighted this summer at the International Association of Identifications at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston.
VideoFOCUS boosts the clarity of images so that their print quality will be high, according to the maker of the devices, Laura Teodosio, who founded the Salient Stills company. She adds that although the software is powerful, officers with non-technical training can easily learn how to use it. Competitors of Salient Stills include Avid/Ocean Systems, whose clients include the Boston police and the MBTA transit police.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from the Boston Globe (07/10/06) P. D1; Bray, Hiawatha .
