This issue of TechBeat reports on new developments in technology in the fields of law enforcement, corrections, and forensic sciences and in the areas of deployable forensic labs, facial recognition systems, bomb squads and terrorism, first responders, social networking, and a mock prison riot.
With a focus on innovative technologies impacting the fields of law enforcement, corrections, and forensic sciences, this issue of TechBeat presents several technical developments. The National Forensic Science Technology Center (NFSTC) with support from the U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and the U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, deployable forensic labs have been created with the potential to help the law enforcement community. With support from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), Pinellas County, FL adapted a facial recognition system which encompasses 14 of the State's 67 counties. A summary is presented of the Improvised Device Defeat Commanders Summit held in Denver, CO in 2009 with bomb squad commanders bringing the technical and tactical challenges they faced and solutions they have developed to defeat the global threat of terrorism. A brief overview of the First Responder Authentication Credentials (FRACs), which provides validated identification, is described. An overview is provided of the new social networking capabilities available to law enforcement agencies to improve community relations, such as You Tube, Facebook and Twitter. Since 1997, the Mock Prison Riot has been held at the former State penitentiary in Moundsville, WV and hosted by NIJ and the West Virginia High Technology Consortium Foundation to showcase and evaluate emerging and existing law enforcement and corrections technologies. The bulletin concludes with a sampling of technology projects, programs, and initiatives being conducted by NIJ and NLECTC.