Crime Fighting Computer Systems and Databases

As crime globalizes, so does crime fighting. Mobsters, serial killers, and terrorists cross state traces and borders effortlessly, making use of the newest advances in mass media, public transportation, telecommunications, and pc networks. The police - there are sixteen,000 regulation enforcement businesses in the Unites States alone - is rarely very far behind.

Quotes from the official Net pages of some of these databases:

National Heart for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC)

Its mission is to mix investigative and operational assist features, analysis, and coaching in an effort to present assistance, without cost, to federal, state, local, and foreign legislation enforcement agencies investigating uncommon or repetitive violent crimes. The NCAVC also supplies assist by means of experience and consultation in non-violent issues resembling national safety, corruption, and white-collar crime investigations.

It comprises the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU), Child Abduction and Serial Murder Investigative Sources Heart (CASMIRC), and Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (VICAP).

VICAP is a nationwide data information center designed to gather, collate, and analyze crimes of violence - specifically murder. It collates and analyzes the numerous characteristics of all murders, and different violent offenses.

Homicide Investigation Tracking System (HITS)

A program inside the Washington state's Lawyer Normal's Workplace that tracks and investigates homicides and rapes.

Violent Crime Linkage System (ViCLAS)

Canada-huge laptop system that assists specifically educated investigators to determine serial crimes and criminals by specializing in the linkages that exist among crimes by the identical offender. This technique was developed by the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) within the early 1990s.

UTAP, stands for The Utah Prison Monitoring and Evaluation Venture

Gathers consultants from forensic science, crime scene analysis, psychiatry and other fields to display screen unsolved circumstances for local legislation enforcement agencies.

Worldwide Criminal Police Organization (ICPO) - Interpol's DNA Gateway

Gives for the switch of profile data between two or more international locations and for the comparison of profiles that conform to Interpol requirements in a centralized database. Investigators can entry the database by way of their Interpol Nationwide Central Bureau (NCB) utilizing Interpol's safe global police communications system, I-24/7.

Interpol's I-24/7

World communication system to attach its member international locations and provide them with user-pleasant entry to police information. Using this technique, Interpol National Central Bureaus (NCBs) can search and cross-verify data in a matter of seconds, with direct and speedy access to databases containing important info (ASF Nominal database of worldwide criminals, digital notices, stolen motor autos, stolen/lost/counterfeit journey and ID paperwork, stolen artistic endeavors, fee playing cards, fingerprints and pictures, a terrorism watch list, a DNA database, disaster victim identification, international weapons tracking and trafficking in human beings-associated data, and many others).

Interpol Fingerprints

Supplies data on the event and implementation of fingerprinting systems for the general public and international law enforcement entities.

Europol (European Union's legal intelligence company) Laptop System (TECS)

Member States can immediately input data into the information system in compliance with their national procedures, and Europol can directly input data provided by non EU Member States and third bodies. Additionally gives analyses and indexing services.


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Vigil Ceremony Planned

A vigil ceremony to commemorate victims of gun violence will be held on Tuesday evening from 6pm to 7:30pm at the Pittsburgh Project Sanctuary at 2801 North Charles Street.

The names of the more than 100 people who have died violently in the North Side since 1993 will be read off.

Organizer Will Tompkins is the director of community outreach at The Pittsburgh Project. He has arranged three other vigils in previous years. He says its important to remember the victims of gun violence as people, not just statistics. He has lived on the North Side most of his life.

"I know many of those young people. I've helped to bury them by raising money, I've been a pallbearer, I've had relatives who have been impacted as well. So for me, its part of my everyday," he said.

Rendell Hasn't Decided Whether To Sign Self Defense Bill

A gun control advocacy group is urging Governor Ed Rendell to veto a measure expanding a person’s right to self defense with deadly force.
The “castle doctrine” bill removes the duty to retreat from Pennsylvania law, allowing people to defend themselves with deadly force when attacked.
The Senate and House have both passed the measure on bipartisan votes, though the House needs to concur on the bill before it goes to Governor Rendell’s desk.
Noting the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association and other law enforcement groups oppose the measure, Joe Grace of CeasefirePA is asking Rendell to veto the bill.

"The governor, as a former prosecutor, an eight-year district attorney of the state’s biggest city – we think the governor understands the dangers of this policy. The recklessness of this policy. And we believe and hope and call on the governor, with the state’s law enforcement community, to veto this bill."

Ed Marsico, the Dauphin County District Attorney and president of the Pennsylvania District Attorney’s Association, says the bill would make it harder to prosecute criminals...

"We certainly believe that citizens in their home have every right to defend themselves. That is the current status of Pennsylvania law. What this does is give criminals on the street, give others on the street, a built-in defense, really. Defense attorneys, we believe, will exploit this."

Rendell’s spokesman says the governor hasn’t decided whether to sign or veto the bill.

Law Enforcement: Don't Trim Early Education $

Governor Ed Rendell is pushing for another increase in basic education funding in Pennsylvania in this year’s budget.
But his spending plan calls for slight reductions in early education line items. A group of law enforcement officials wants lawmakers to change that.
Rendell’s budget would lower Pre-K Counts spending from 86.4 to 85.9 million dollars, and drop the Head Start supplemental line item from 39.5 to 38.7 million.
64 district attorneys, police chiefs and sheriffs have sent a letter to House Speaker Keith McCall asking for level funding of those line items.
Cumberland County DA David Freed says the research results are simple – more spending on early childhood education means less of those kids will grow up and run into trouble with the law.

"I certainly won’t stand here and ask my legislators to vote for any sort of increase. But what we need is for this funding to remain at status quo. Because this is the point of all these programs. It works. The research shows that it works."

Freed and the others say a bit more early childhood spending can lead to reductions in the corrections budget. He points out the commonwealth spends about 35-thousand dollars on every person in the state prison system. Rendell wants to increase corrections spending to 1.7 billion dollars this year.

Jails at Lowest Population Since 2001

The nation’s jail population is on the decline.

That’s according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, which announced yesterday the country’s jails shed 2.3% of their population from 2008 to 2009. That’s 17,936 inmates.

Unlike prisons, jails are operated by local law enforcement. More than half of jail inmates are unconvicted and await arraignment, trial, or conviction.

Allegheny County Jail Warden Ramon Rustin says he doesn’t know if that’s related to crime rates – but he says policies like probation sentences and cheaper bails are to thank.

Rustin says jail was originally used to house the offenders that society is afraid of.

“We kind of went to jailing people that we’re simply mad at for a variety of things,” says Rustin. “So we take a look at that, and large-scale administrators actually try to manage the population [to] where it doesn’t cost the taxpayer a massive amount of money.”

The Bureau of Justice Statistics found that the largest jails had the highest drops in population. Almost 30% of the nationwide decline happened in just seven jails.

Study Says County Anti-Violence Program is Falling Short

The RAND Corporation recently released a study saying that the Allegheny County violence-prevention program One Vision One Life is failing to prevent violence. Since its inception, the program has failed to stem homicides and has in fact been associated with a rise in aggravated assaults and gun assaults in the three neighborhoods where it operates: the Northside, Hill District and the Southside. The program was modeled after successful versions that drastically reduced gang-related crime in Chicago, Boston and Baltimore.

The RAND study also found that “One Vision lacked consistent documentation, and its staff rarely used the available documentation in any systematic way to guide program actions.”

Erin Dalton of the Department of Human Services says DHS took some of the findings to heart.“Particularly the one that suggests that programs like One Vision One Life, outreach programs in and of themselves, have challenges in reducing violence without a coordinated community-based law enforcement strategy,” says Dalton.

However, Dalton did not agree with all of the study’s findings. She rejected the study’s assertion that Pittsburgh gang structure differs from those of other cities, rendering typical strategies ineffective. Dalton also doubted that One Vision helped cause an increase in assaults since 2004.
“I think it’s worth keeping in mind that the study was undertaken at a time where violence was increasing throughout the city,” says Dalton, “so what they found was larger increases in the areas in which One Vision One Life was working. I don’t have the statistical background to take major issue with it, but I find it sort of questionable.”

She says in the future, One Vision will work with the more law enforcement-based Pittsburgh Initiative to Reduce Crime to achieve better results. Dalton added that One Vision will also need to shift from community-based action to gang-based action.

Master Hacker Faces Stiff Sentence

Max Ray Vision, a mastermind computer hacker was sentenced to 13 years in federal prison today and ordered to pay $27.5 million in restitution for stealing more than a million bank and credit card numbers. Vision, formerly named Butler, at one time voluntarily cooperated with the FBI. But he turned to hacking the kinds of systems he once helped protect and according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Luke Dembosky, credit card companies Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover attributed more than $86 million in fraudulent purchases to credit card numbers found in Vision’s possession. Vision’s attorney Michael Novara noted that Vision saw less than a million dollars in personal financial gain.

The 13-year sentence is the longest sentence handed down for hacking in the United States to date. In a Federal courtroom in Pittsburgh, U.S. District Judge Maurice Cohill asked Vision if he had anything to say on his own behalf and Vision explained that he got caught up in the thrill of hacking, but had changed and no longer found it appealing. Novara called the sentence excessive for someone like Vision whose talents could be used for the greater good.

Dembosky says it was a four year effort to infiltrate the criminal network and identify and move in on Vision. He called the sentence bittersweet because of the waste of Vision’s intellect and talent, and the importance of bringing a measure of justice to the victims. He hopes Vision uses his gifts to benefit other people as he has done at times in the past. It has been intimated that Vision is cooperating with other federal investigations.

Arrest Made in Penn Hills Police Shooting

The suspect in the Shooting death of a Penn Hills Police officer and another Penn Hills resident has been ordered held without bond. 32-year-old Ronald Robinson was arraigned on two counts of homicide, and one count each of burglary and robbery. Robinson, who was on parole for a 2005 weapons violation, also faces several firearms violations. Police say Officer Michael Crawshaw responded to a call to 911 that gunfire had been heard in the 200 block Johnston Road and was waiting outside in his cruiser for backup when Robinson opened fire. It is alleged that the man shot and killed 40-year-old Danyal Morton in the home just minutes before killing the 32-year-old officer. Allegheny County Police Superintendent Charles Moffat says Crashaw was shot in the head once and three times in the arm. Robinson was wearing an electronic monitoring device on his ankle as part of his parole. Police say he was carrying a Chinese version of an AK-47 rifle and a 9 mm handgun at the time of the killing, which has been tied to a $500 drug debt.

Penn Hills Officer Killed

Allegheny County Police are investigating the shooting death of a Penn Hills Police Officer. Officer Michael Crawshaw was called to a domestic disturbance last night and was apparently waiting in his cruiser for back up when he was shot and killed. Neighbors say they heard as many as 10 shots. Police responding to the scene say they also found a body in the house. Officials say they have very little information but are looking for an SUV seen driving away from the scene and want to question a 27-year-old man believed to have been carry an assault rifle. County Executive Dan Onorato say his thoughts and prayers are with the family and, “I have made the full resources of the Allegheny County police and crime lab available to investigate this terrible incident. We will not rest until we have found those responsible. I have also ordered flags to be flown at half-staff on all Allegheny County buildings and facilities in honor and memory of Officer Crawshaw.”

Crime Down, Murders Up in Pittsburgh

Even though the city’s murder rate jumped 38% last year Pittsburgh’s violent crime rate fell 2.8%. Property crime was also down. It fell 9.4%. The FBI released the numbers today. Violent crime includes murder, aggravated assault and rape. In 2008 there were 72 murders in Pittsburgh. The number of rapes moved from 129 in 2007 to 136 in 2008. Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl says he is pleased that the overall number is coming down but the murder numbers concerns him. He says the city has been working on combating the homicide rate and police Chief Nate Harper will continue to do so. He says the city will look closely at the numbers and see if there are any changes the police department should make to better fight crime.

PA Crime Efforts Get Federal Cash

$72 million in Recovery Act funds have been allocated to Pennsylvania to help prevent crime and shore up the criminal justice system. The funds from the US Department of Justice will be given to the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency as an Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant. (JAG) Last year the JAG program handed out $170 million nation wide, this year the program has grown to $4 billion thanks to the additional recovery act funds. 60% of the funds will stay with the commission and the rest will be awarded to local agencies. The funds can be used for a wide range of programs including weed and seed, juvenile reporting centers, community supervision programs and specialized courts. Commission spokesperson Tara Mead says the expectation is that the funds will be used to help save programs that would have otherwise fallen to the budget ax in the tight budgets being crafted at then state and local level. Mead says the goal is to get the funds distributed as soon as possible to keep those systems working.

Trooper Linked to South Side Death, Involved in Previous Killing

A state trooper that helped shoot and kill a man driving dangerously on South Side early Sunday morning was also involved in the killing of an unarmed 12-year-old boy in 2002. Trooper Samuel Nassan fatally shot Nicholas Haniotakis, 33, of the South Side after he tried to run over officers with his SUV. He had been charged in the past with trying to run down an officer.

Haniotakis was spotted driving erratically on the South Side around 2 a.m. on March 15 by Nassan and Pittsburgh Police Sgt. Terrence Donnelly who were on DUI patrol. Haniotakis refused to pull over and eventually crashed. The officers ordered him out of the car, but instead Hanitokas reversed his vehicle, hitting their unmarked police vehicle. The two officers fired on Hanitokas who then drove another six blocks before crashing into a utility pole at 22nd and Sarah Streets.

In December 2002 Nassan shot Michael Ellerbe in the back in Uniontown during a foot chase after Ellerbe jumped out of a stolen vehicle. Nassan said he thought Ellerbe had shot his partner, whose gun went off accidentally while he climbed a fence.

The shooting was ruled justified by law enforcement authorities. But last year a federal jury found that the troopers intentionally shot the boy and awarded the family $28 million. The state later agreed to a $12.5 million payment.

McDonald's to Increase Security

Management for three downtown McDonald's restaurants has agreed to pay for extra security measures after an employee was arrested for drug dealing on the premises earlier this week. Representatives from the Allegheny County D.A.'s office, Pittsburgh police and McDonald's counsel reached a preliminary agreement to curb illegal activity, though specifics have not been disclosed. On Monday McDonald's employee John Eckard was arrested and charged with selling prescription pills out the bathroom of the Smithfield Street restaurant.

McDonald's Drug Bust

The Allegheny County District Attorney is threatening to shut down three McDonald's fast food restaurants downtown because of illegal drug activity. D.A. Stephen Zappala Jr. yesterday announced the arrest of 48-year-old John Eckard, a McDonald's employee at the Smithfield Street location, on charges he illegally sold prescription drugs to an undercover informant. Zappala says the restaurants will close unless the franchises' owner cooperates with authorities.

Robbers Shoot at Victims in Duquesne University Garage

A robber fired a gun at three people in a parking garage next to the A.J. Palumbo Center last night during the City League basketball championship games. No one was injured and two suspects, believed to be high school students, have been arrested by police. The shooting occurred around 7:30 and the suspects were caught after a brief chase on foot. The victims were walking up the stairs of the parking garage on Forbes Avenue when the suspects caught them and ordered them to lie down. One of the victims ran, prompting one of the suspects to shoot until his gun jammed. The victims' property was recovered.

11-year-old Charged with Premeditated Homicide

The Lawrence County case of an 11-year-old boy charged with shooting his father's pregnant girlfriend raises questions: Is someone that age as answerable for his actions as an adult? In Pennsylvania, homicides are automatically tried in criminal court, yet Melissa Sickmund, researcher at the National Center for Juvenile Justice, says someone that young would not be able to make any legal decisions for himself--couldn't vote,smoke, drink, drive or be in the military.

Another question is where to hold the boy before his trial. He's been alone for two days in a county jail cell, but Sickmund says he should be in a juvenile facility if he has to be incarcerated. In 1989, a 9-year-old boy in Monroe County shot and killed a 7-year-old girl riding on a snowmobile. He stayed home with his parents until he was found guilty in criminal court.

Sickmund would not expect the 11-year-old to end up in the state penitentiary even if he's found guilty. When the 9-year-old was found guilty, the judge sent the case to juvenile court for disposition, and the boy was put in a treatment facility until he turned 21.