NCJ Number
201484
Journal
Law Enforcement Technology Volume: 30 Issue: 7 Dated: July 2003 Pages: 152-156
Date Published
July 2003
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article describes a new computer technology that helps facilitate the recovery of missing personal property.
Abstract
The Dallas based service, known as l.e.a.d.s.online (Law Enforcement Automated Database Search), created and maintains a Web-based program designed to pinpoint crucial data quickly and economically. The article explains that while violent crimes capture the Nation’s attention, it is property crimes that keep most police investigators busy. L.e.a.d.s.online allows law enforcement officers to search one Internet database of local, regional, and national pawn store transactions rather than having to drive to pawn stores, sort through their paper records, and enter data into their police databases. L.e.a.d.s.online gives officers quick access to records through a series of search options and onscreen tables. Searches can be performed by suspect name, property inventory, serial numbers, or times and dates. In December of 2002, Cash America International Inc., the world’s largest operator of pawn stores, announced it will partner with l.e.a.d.s.online to utilize the system in all of its United States pawn stores. Pawn store operators are able to enter transaction data by using a basic PC with an Internet connection; authorized law enforcement officers can then access the database to search for missing items. The l.e.a.d.s.online system allows police investigators to get out of the database management business and back into police investigation duties.