THE POLICING
POLICE AIDS
· The smart guns that can only
be used by police officers
Colt’s Manufacturing Company in the USA is currently developing an automatic pistol that will only shoot if it is in the hands of a police officer. The gun will fire after it receives signal from a radar that can be housed in a ring, watch or button worn by a police officer.
· The radar that can sense
breathing through a wall
A research team at Georgia Tech Research Institute in Atlanta. USA, has built a prototype radar torch which uses a signal processing chip to detect people through walls. To date, the torch can detect the subtle movement of a person breathing through a wall 20 cm thick.
FORENSICS
· Goggles which make evidence
glow for investigators
Researchers at Sandia National Labs in New Mexico. USA, have come up with a time saving and illuminating way for officers to pinpoint potential evidence at a crime scene; by making it glow. Exploiting the fact that most organic materials give off a natural fluorescence invisible to the human eye, the team have combined a flashing lamp and a modified pair of 3-D game goggles to make substances such as blood, semen body tissue, drugs and explosives flash to the wearer of the goggles.
· Robot investigators could
reconstruct the crime scene
The FBI forces that the growth of identity databases will lead to forensic robots filming and combing crime scenes for evidence and then being able to analyse it on sight. The information could be used to reconstruct the crime scene in virtual reality which human investigators or even a jury could refer to at any time.
JAIL SYSTEMS
· UK id tags allow prisoners
to be released early
In the UK, from 1999, some prisoners will be electronically tagged. Once fitted, a tag’s electronic signal is monitored, allowing police to ascertain the offender’s exact whereabouts so that many prisoners can be released early.
· Indestructible id tags
in development
Philips Research in the Netherlands is developing flexible plastic id tags that defy being squashed or folded. The two-way radar circuitry is etched with ultraviolet light into foil within the tag.
House-arrest offenders
monitored by satellite
US company Pro-Tech Monitoring testing a device called Smart (Satellite Monitoring and Remote Tracking system) which allows a central office to track the movements of an offender who is under house arrest.
