TITLE: TechBeat Winter 1998                 
Series: NIJ
Subject: Technology, Law Enforcement, Police
Equipment
Published: January 1998
31 pages
65,207 bytes

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TechBeat
Winter 1998
National Law Enforcement and Corrections
Technology Center
Dedicated to Reporting Developments in Technology
for Law Enforcement, Corrections, and Forensics

Another Man's Treasure

When a Texas police agency wanted to train
narcotics dogs to inspect railroad cars as they
came across the southern border of the United
States, the agency found it was missing one vital
piece of training equipment: a railroad car. A
perplexing acquisition to say the least. After
all, who would have a spare railroad car lying
around? Yet the agency did acquire one. It came as
a gift from the Federal Government, acquired
through a program that takes excess military
equipment and gives it to law enforcement and
corrections agencies.

Through this program, the South Carolina
Department of Corrections received more than $4
million in equipment, including three mobile
homes, more than 1,000 gas masks, and an armored
vehicle. The mobile homes will be used for
classrooms to train correctional officers. The gas
masks will be available for use by officers during
prison disturbances. The armored vehicle can be
used during prison disturbances and also will be
made available to other law enforcement agencies
for use in hostage or stand-off situations.

This excess equipment program, officially known as
the 1033 Program, has been nothing short of a
financial windfall. Equipment of all types--
everything from tents to tractor/trailers--has
gone to departments around the country, says
William LeGro, Project Manager with UEL, Inc., the
program grantee. LeGro serves as program liaison
between the Department of Defense (DoD) and the
National Institute of Justice (NIJ).

"We have helicopters, helicopter parts,
fixed-winged aircraft, four-wheel-drive vehicles,
big trucks, small trucks, cars, armored personnel
carriers, heavy equipment, sleeping bags, boots,
tents, backpacks, canteens, cots, radios,
binoculars, and weapons like M-16s, sniper rifles,
and shotguns."

It is the ultimate recycling program, LeGro says.
The equipment belongs to DoD, which no longer
needs it or has replaced it with newer equipment.
DoD ships the equipment to its Defense
Reutilization and Marketing Offices (DRMOs). Law
enforcement and corrections agencies can then
request specific items, and if they meet certain
criteria, acquire these items at little or no
cost.

In South Carolina, the city of Charleston secured
a tractor/trailer and now uses it for emergency
response to hurricanes. In High Point, North
Carolina, police use wreckers acquired through the
program to seize and haul mobile homes. One
creative department managed to find use for a
street sweeper. "What do you do with one of
those?" asks LeGro. "You put undercover officers
in it in the small hours of the morning. They
drive it through the streets and watch drug deals
go down."

In Missouri, the State Highway Patrol built its
Aircraft Division out of excess military
equipment. Its fleet currently contains six
helicopters and three twin-engine aircraft,
including a King Air, according to Lt. Rich
Rehmeier, director of the division. "We use them
for hauling police personnel, and for drug
interdiction, marijuana eradication, search and
rescue, and manhunts," he says. "We have nine
patrol troops and seven of them have their own
aircraft." But the highway patrol has picked up
much more than aircraft, Rehmeier says. The agency
has also acquired armored cars, pickup trucks,
weapons, battle dress uniforms (BDUs), spare
engines and parts, as well as a raft of tools.
"When we picked up a bunch of toolboxes and tools,
we gave a set to not only the pilots but also to
the officers on the interstate who do drug
interdiction. When they have to disassemble door
panels or other areas of a vehicle to find the
dope, they have the tools. Some agencies may feel
that getting this equipment is a hassle, but once
you understand the system, it's pretty easy. And
the money you save is unbelievable," Rehmeier
says.

In Georgia, bread trucks have been converted to
SWAT vans, prisoner transports, and mobile command
posts. According to Darrell Bennett, assistant
manager of Georgia's 1033 Program,
tractor/trailers haul earth-moving equipment that
is then used to cut paths into marijuana fields.
Cars and trucks are used in undercover work, or as
marked units on patrol. BDUs are outfitted with
patches and brass for use as official police
uniforms. Nothing is wasted. "We even tell our
departments that before they can dispose of
anything they have to get written permission from
us," Bennett says. "If it's an item someone else
can use and it's still in good shape, we don't
allow them to dispose of it. Even if it's a
wrecked car, we still might be able to use the
parts. We try to use everything to the fullest,
and give everyone a chance to benefit."

The 1033 Program started in 1989 as the 1208
Program (the number refers to the enabling section
in the Defense Authorization Act). At that time,
the primary qualifying criterion was that the
agency could only use the equipment for
counterdrug activity. In 1996, the 1033 Program
superseded 1208, which made all law enforcement
activities eligible but still gave special
consideration to those that focused on counterdrug
and counterterrorism activities.

In its first year of operation, the excess
property program transferred an estimated $1
million in equipment; by the end of fiscal year
1996, it had transferred $336 million in
equipment. The 1033 Program currently operates
under the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA). It is
administered by the Law Enforcement Support
Offices in Ft. Belvoir, Virginia, and in San
Pedro, California. In 1995, NIJ's Office of
Science and Technology was designated by the U.S.
Attorney General as the point-of-contact to DoD
and DLA for the administration of the program to
gain maximum benefit for law enforcement and
corrections agencies.

According to LeGro, DoD differentiates between
"excess" and "surplus" equipment. Excess refers to
equipment that has been shipped to a Defense
Reutilization and Marketing Office and has been in
stock for less than 21 days. After that time,
anything that has not been tagged or acquired by a
Federal, State, or municipal law enforcement or
corrections agency is considered surplus. This
equipment is then made available, with fewer
restrictions, to other State agencies. "Most of it
goes to fire departments, schools, hospitals, or
to support activities of State, county, or local
government," LeGro says.

Although there is no charge for the property,
about 20 percent of the States charge a handling
fee, anywhere from 1 to 20 percent of the item's
original cost. There are times, however, when DoD
will assume the cost of the transfer. In one case,
it paid to ship 1,000 gas masks, rather than pay
to have them destroyed.

Each State handles the 1033 Program differently.
Although each is required to have a
Governor-appointed coordinator, some States have
dedicated whole offices and full-time employees to
the project, while others added the task to a
full-time employee's regular duties. In Georgia,
the program operates through the Georgia Emergency
Response Agency and has full-time staff assigned
to it. "New equipment comes in daily," Bennett
says. "We have screeners who go to the DRMOs in
their areas every week. They let us know what is
available, and we match it up with requests from
the various agencies." A new computer system,
recently designed for the program, helps staff
track each request and each piece of equipment
from acquisition to disposal.

"Some States have given the program to the highway
patrol to administer," LeGro says. "Some have
given it to an officer in the State bureau of
investigation, some have given it to the National
Guard bureau in their area, and some have given it
to the State agency for surplus property because
that agency knows about screening and tagging
property. Some really promote the program, others
don't have the time, and others just wait for
someone to ask them about it."

The differences between how States handle the
program, however, can be easily quantified. Ken
Dover, a retired North Carolina State police
officer, spent 5 years developing and setting up a
full-time program for his State's Department of
Crime Control. During that time, he brought in
millions of dollars in excess property, including
more than $22 million in property for local law
enforcement agencies during 1995-96. In contrast,
another State brought in only $1.5 million in
property in 1996, primarily because the job was
given to a full-time police officer to do in his
spare time. 

"What makes the program work best is if a State
can devote some resources to the State
coordinator's office, " LeGro states.

Kevin Jackson is the program manager for NIJ. Bill
Deck and Ken Dover at NIJ's National Law
Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center
(NLECTC)-Southeast in Charleston, South Carolina,
manage the day-to-day support and provide
assistance to State and local law enforcement and
corrections.

One of the principal tasks of NLECTC-Southeast is
to facilitate the acquisition and distribution of
Federal excess/surplus property to State and local
law enforcement and corrections agencies by
notifying State coordinators when items suitable
for law enforcement or corrections are located,
and by improving those agencies' accessibility to
various property purchasing programs. 

To participate in the 1033 Program, contact your
State coordinator or contact Ken Dover or Bill
Deck at NLECTC-Southeast, 800-292-4385, who work
with States to improve their 1033 program
participation and offer assistance in using the
Internet to locate surplus property, including the
NLECTC World Wide Web site, JUSTNET, at
http://www.nlectc.org.

1033 Program Participation Criteria 

o To participate in the Department of Defense
(DoD) 1033 Program your agency must be a
government agency whose primary function is the
enforcement of laws and whose officers are
compensated and have the power of arrest and
apprehension.

o Excess DoD property cannot be transferred to
correctional institutions for general support of
the prison population, for routine prison
activities, or for the rehabilitation or treatment
of drug offenders. However, the Defense Logistics
Agency generally will approve property transfers
for use by teams, squads, or individuals who
enforce laws within the jurisdiction of prison
officials. These would include units whose mission
it is to quell disturbances within the prison
jurisdiction, or teams or individual officers
charged with apprehending escapees. Parole and
probation agencies generally qualify as well, as
long as it can be shown that their officers have
arrest, apprehension, or revocation authority
within their jurisdictions.

o The property must be drawn from the existing
stocks of DoD.

o The transfer must be made without the
expenditure of DoD funds. Costs incurred
subsequent to the transfer are borne or reimbursed
by the recipient.

o The agency takes the property "as is."

o Each State must detail how the equipment will be
used and agree to use it within 1 year of
transfer.

o Property cannot be sold, leased, rented,
exchanged, bartered, or used to secure a loan, or
to supplement the agency's budget.

o All property is transferred on a first-come,
first-served basis.

Check it Out

The best way to access information about
Department of Defense (DoD) property is via a
searchable database at DoD's Internet site,
http://www.drms.dla.mil. This address takes you to
the home page of the Defense Reutilization and
Marketing Service. From this page:

o Select the [GOV. R/T/D] button located on the
left-hand side of the page.

o Then select the [PROPERTY SEARCH] button.

o Scroll down to the middle of the page to
[COMMODITY GROUPS] and click on it. This will
bring up the Government Search Form page.

o In Section A, you are required to select a
Commodity Group. If you already have a concise
description of the item for which you are
searching, type it into the Product Name box.

o Scroll down to Section D (entering information
in sections B and C is optional). Note the listed
geographic zones from which to choose. Each zone
box contains a pull-down listing of specific
sites. Remember, the location of the item can
affect its cost because you pay for the shipment.
Obtaining a jeep from Spain would likely cost more
than the jeep is worth. Search first in the region
of the country where your agency is located, then
branch out if needed.

o When finished, click the [SUBMIT SEARCH] button.
Be prepared to wait for several minutes, depending
on the parameters of the search.

Once the search is complete and the list appears
on your screen, you may see some items with photos
attached. This is a good way to take a look at the
actual item. But do not be influenced by the
condition reports. Items listed as "unserviceable"
may be brand new, but are no longer of any use to
the military.

------------------------------

Be ALERT . . . for the Police Car of the Future

Communication and computer technologies are taking
policing into a whole new realm. Today's officers
now need to be familiar with technologies such as
wireless communications, in-car video, global
positioning systems, and computers that let them
communicate directly with State and national
databases, call up wants and warrants, and
transmit fingerprints and mug shots. This can be
quite challenging to the officer whose only
acquaintance with a computer is the one that sits
on the desk of the chief's secretary.

But the task of incorporating these technologies
into just one police cruiser can be even more
challenging. Aside from the ergonomic puzzle of
squeezing an array of equipment into the front
seat of a patrol car, there are the technical
difficulties of making it all work as one
transparent, seamless system.

The Texas Transportation Institute (TTI), located
at Texas A&M University in College Station, has
been working on the problem since 1994, when the
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) decided to
find out how new data collection technologies and
systems perform in the real world of police work.
This project, dubbed Advanced Law Enforcement
Response Technology (ALERT), has been so
successful that it recently won Vice President Al
Gore's Hammer Award.

Referring to the public backlash against the
government spending taxpayer dollars on the
proverbial "$600 hammer," this award recognizes
Federal, State, and local employees, as well as
private companies and citizens, who work together
to make government more efficient. Since the
Hammer Award is the Vice President's answer to
yesterday's $600 hammer, the award consists of a
$6 hammer, a little ribbon, and a card from Gore,
all in an aluminum frame.

Aside from the obvious humor of the award itself,
the Hammer Award recognizes cooperation, something
the ALERT project exemplifies. Although originally
the brainchild of FHWA, ALERT has grown into a
working partnership among the U.S. Department of
Transportation, which provided all of the funding
for the first 2 years of the project, and the
Texas Department of Transportation, the Texas
Department of Public Safety, the College Station
Police Department, the International Association
of Chiefs of Police (IACP), the National Institute
of Justice (NIJ), and several State and local law
enforcement agencies. In addition, this
partnership has involved major manufacturers of
police equipment, including Applied Concepts,
AT&T, Cardinal Tracking, CellPort Labs, Complete
CAM, Eastman Kodak, Epson America, GTE,
ImageNation, Kinetic Computer Corp., Kustom
Signals, Litton, Lockard & White Consulting
Engineers, Lucent Technologies, Motorola, Pacific
Communication Sciences, Sierra Wireless, Signal
Measurement Corp., Signalvations, Symbol
Technologies, Trimble, UCS, and Video Systems
Plus.

Together, government and industry have created the
police car of the future, one that takes the
masses of switches and controls out of the cockpit
and integrates the vehicle's functions into a
system that is entirely controlled by an onboard
touch-screen computer. ALERT cars that are
currently being tested are equipped with
computer-driven overhead lights, radar, magnetic
stripe and bar code readers, license plate
readers, enhanced video camera/recording devices,
and a global positioning system/automatic vehicle
locator. If the officer initiates a pursuit, for
example, he simply touches the word "pursuit" on
the screen to activate the lights, siren, and
video camera, as well as a global positioning
system that shows dispatchers the car's precise
location. A video multiplexor integrates multiple
cameras and lenses, allowing the officer to
capture digital or video images inside and outside
the vehicle in wide-angle or close-up views. Those
images can then be transmitted in real-time to a
communications or command center for
retransmitting to other ALERT vehicles in the
field.

ALERT also includes a handheld, pen-based remote
terminal that can communicate with the onboard
computer. When a law enforcement officer makes a
stop and approaches a vehicle, that officer has
the programs he or she needs in the handheld unit.
Information from the stop can be downloaded to the
onboard computer or electronically transmitted to
the communications center. The computer that
serves as the traffic cop for all of this
sophisticated technology sits in the trunk,
routing communications between wireless data
collection devices, the vehicle itself, and the
department's communications center. What makes
everything work is an open architecture that lets
officers add peripherals simply by plugging them
in.

"We're not developing any new technology," notes
Brenna Smith, program manager for ALERT. "All of
the sophisticated technology is already
commercially available. What we've done is find a
way for them to interface together."

NIJ's involvement includes providing project
funding and managing the ALERT testbed initiative,
which will be underway in March 1998, in
conjunction with the Federal Highway
Administration.

According to Smith, the partnerships developed
with the equipment manufacturers have been an
integral part of ALERT from the very beginning.
The manufacturers donated equipment and technical
expertise, and they provided protocols that would
easily interface with the ALERT architecture and
the proprietary software engineered by TTI. This
kind of cooperation, she says, will ultimately be
of tremendous benefit to police agencies, enabling
them to combine equipment from different
manufacturers to create a system that meets the
needs of their department. It also will give them
the ability to transfer the ALERT equipment from
one patrol car to another.

But it is the officers who will truly benefit,
Smith adds. They will have immediate access to
State and national databases and be able to
receive and transmit text and graphics in seconds,
thereby allowing the transmission of photos of
wanted and missing persons immediately. Digital
and video cameras will capture images from
accident sites and crime scenes and automatically
download them to a department's records management
system. Information from driver's licenses will be
swiped on mag-stripe and bar code readers and
automatically loaded into electronic forms.
Officers will also be able to communicate with
neighboring jurisdictions as well as other
emergency responders.

"The ALERT system is really the prototype police
car of the future," Smith says. "The best part of
the technology is that it's modular, so it's
available to departments of all sizes. The smaller
department doesn't have to buy the whole package--
only what they need. The configuration at the
communications center will require a compatible
CAD and a records management system. And of
course, all of this is being designed to integrate
with the FBI's NCIC [National Crime Information
Center] 2000, NIBRS [National Incident Based
Reporting System], IAFIS [Integrated Automated
Fingerprint Identification System], and other
individual State and local systems."

In addition to funding assistance, NIJ is
providing technical support in the area of
interoperability through its National Law
Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center
(NLECTC)-Rocky Mountain facility and is fostering
the commercialization of ALERT through its Office
of Law Enforcement Technology Commercialization
(OLETC) in Wheeling, West Virginia. OLETC will
work with equipment vendors and manufacturers to
bring ALERT to the law enforcement market. Because
ALERT has its own set of standards engineered by
TTI, manufacturers will need to make their
products compatible in order to compete.

"The beauty of the ALERT project is that because
of its plug-and-play compatibility with most
technology, it opens the marketplace for other
vendors who have state-of-the-art technology to
assist the law enforcement market," Smith says.

In addition to the Gore Hammer Award, the ALERT
project won the Computer World Smithsonian Award,
which recognizes individuals and organizations who
have found new and innovative ways to use
technology. The ALERT car and 321 other
technological applications from 39 States and 21
countries have been added to the Smithsonian's
collection at the National Museum of American
History in Washington, D.C.

For more information about the ALERT car, contact
Brenna Smith of NIJ, 202-305-3305; Joan Tatge,
ALERT project manager at the Texas Transportation
Institute, 409-862-2901; or visit the ALERT World
Wide Web site at http://alert.tamu.edu.

------------------------------

NIJ Takes the RAP

It was the late 1960s, the era of the Vietnam War,
and Abraham Flatau was an aeronautical engineer
working for the U.S. Army, a young man full of
energy, curiosity, and bright ideas. He knew the
soldiers in Vietnam were having problems with
their rifle-fired grenades. Their grenades
required a high trajectory, which made them
impossible to use in the thick canopy of the
jungle. The heavy foliage invariably caused them
to blow up short of their target.

Flatau knew the solution was a projectile with a
flat trajectory, something that would fly straight
and fast, without the typical ballistic arc. He
also knew there were only two methods to achieve
this flat trajectory: increase muzzle velocity or
find a way to create aerodynamic lift in the
projectile. His solution lay with the latter
method. The result was the ring airfoil grenade, a
small explosive metal ring that looked like a
donut and spun like a bullet. Because it generated
lift while it flew in a low-drag mode, it had a
near straight-line trajectory. Flatau's theory was
sound enough that a prototype was developed.
However, the Army never pursued it.

It was not until the 1970s, following the
shootings at Kent State University, that the
subject of the ring airfoil grenade came up again.
Like many law enforcement and military officials,
Flatau saw a need for a nonlethal device that
would give military police and law enforcement and
corrections officers more control over crowds
without the possibility of killing anyone.

Many of the crowd control devices at that time--
rubber and wooden bullets, for the most part--had
serious problems. They had to be skip-fired
(ricocheted) so they would hit people in the legs,
not in the head. This meant that even the smallest
piece of gravel or rock could bounce the
projectile in the wrong direction. At long range,
these weapons were disturbingly inaccurate, and at
short range, they could be lethal.

Flatau had the solution. He turned his explosive
ring airfoil grenade into the nonlethal ring
airfoil projectile (RAP), a 2-inch-diameter rubber
ring weighing about 1 ounce and banded with a
special paper wrapping designed to hold the shape
until impact. It was fired by a launcher-adapter
that fit over the barrel of an M-16A1 rifle and
propelled by a 5.56mm low-grain blank cartridge.
The RAP flew at 200 feet per second, spun at 5,000
revolutions per minute, and delivered about 39
foot-pounds of energy. Flatau created two
versions: the sting RAP and the soft RAP.

The sting RAP was of particular interest to
military police, who requested that it be accurate
enough to hit a man-sized target from 40 to 50
meters, just outside of rock-throwing range, and a
group of three people from 60 meters. Because one
sting RAP could be used repeatedly, simply by
rebanding it, it looked like a financially
feasible tool, whether it was used for crowd
control, in hostage situations, or as a training
device. The sting RAP has the potential to stop a
person, cause him to drop a weapon, or deter him
temporarily to buy time for officers to respond to
the situation. Biophysics testing showed the RAP
could not break bones or injure internal organs,
no matter how it was fired. It could, however,
break double-pane glass, which was an advantage if
one had to hit a subject inside a building.

Ironically, although the sting RAP was approved
for military use, it was never used. The Army
produced 500,000, but then left them on the
shelves where they remained for more than 15
years. The second version, dubbed the soft RAP,
offered a little extra punch--it had 18 cavities
embedded with tear gas that was released on
impact, but it was never produced.

Enter Lt. Col. Matt Begert, who specializes in
finding new technologies for the U.S. Marine
Corps, including information on nonlethal weapons.
It was during his research that Begert learned
about Flatau's invention. And while making a
presentation on promising new technologies to a
group of research and development personnel,
Begert mentioned the ring airfoil grenade and its
more modern incarnation, the RAP. To his surprise,
Flatau was in the audience. Begert and Flatau
later got together, took the device off the Army's
shelf, and fired it. It worked perfectly.

"It is as less-lethal as you can get," Begert
says. "You can fire it pointblank and it won't be
lethal. It won't knock you down, and it's round
[donut shaped, larger than an eye socket], so it
can't poke your eye out. What it will do is get
your attention, and on some people, it will leave
a bruise."

In 1997, the RAP came to the attention of the
National Law Enforcement and Corrections
Technology Center (NLECTC)-West in El Segundo,
California, where Begert and Flatau demonstrated
it to law enforcement and corrections officers. It
made such an impression that the National
Institute of Justice (NIJ), as part of its
continuing search for viable nonlethal devices,
has funded research into updating and adapting the
RAP for use by corrections and police agencies. A
grant to Guilford Engineering, of Guilford,
Connecticut, is expected to produce several
things: designs for a handheld, stand-alone RAP
launcher that will not look like a deadly weapon;
the development of a soft RAP embedded with
oleoresin capsicum (OC) that will release a 3- to
4-foot cloud on impact; and a design for a
pistol-like configuration such as a flare
launcher.

"This whole thing is going to be an engineering
feat. The device is elegantly simple, but these
new designs are going to be a lot of work," Begert
says.

In the interim, existing RAPs have been taken off
the shelf and are being tested by three agencies.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department plans
to demonstrate and possibly employ them
operationally. The Federal Bureau of Prisons has
obtained some for testing, as has the Royal
Canadian Mounted Police.

For more information about the ring airfoil
projectile, contact Sandy Newett at the National
Institute of Justice, 202-616-1471.

------------------------------

From the Director

Law enforcement, courts, and corrections officials
and officers working in the field know how crucial
technology is to their day-to-day operations. In
some circumstances, having the right tool can even
mean the difference between life and death.

The technological revolution that has swept
society as a whole in recent years has also
affected the criminal justice system. Some
technologies that not long ago seemed advanced--
vests that can stop bullets, and electronic
monitoring of probationers--today seem
commonplace. But the revolution continues apace,
with ever more spectacular advances now being
made, or in the testing stages, or on the drawing
board.

As the research arm of the U.S. Department of
Justice, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ)
has, since its founding 30 years ago, been in the
forefront in sponsoring the development, testing,
and demonstration of technology to improve the
justice system. The development of DNA testing
standards, soft body armor, and improved
fingerprint evidence are some of the many areas in
which NIJ has played a leading role.

More recently, with strong support from the
Administration and the Congress, NIJ has
accelerated the pace of its efforts.
Less-than-lethal technologies to minimize the use
of force, computerized mapping to pinpoint and
analyze crime patterns, concealed weapons
detection to prevent violence, methods of stopping
fleeing vehicles to apprehend suspects, and
improvements in DNA laboratories to aid in
evidence testing--all these capabilities, and
others, are now being explored by NIJ. Their
application can mean even greater transformations
in law enforcement operations.

TechBeat plays an important role as an essential
link communicating the latest information about
these developing technologies from the National
Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center.
By keeping law enforcement, courts, and
corrections personnel current about the tools they
can use, the newsletter makes a difference in
controlling crime and ensuring justice.

Jeremy Travis
Director
National Institute of Justice 

------------------------------
The National Law Enforcement and Corrections
Technology Center is supported by Cooperative
Agreement #96-MU-MU-K011 awarded by the U.S.
Department of Justice, National Institute of
Justice. Analyses of test results do not represent
product approval or endorsement by the National
Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice;
the National Institute of Standards and
Technology, U.S. Department of Commerce; or Aspen
Systems Corporation. Points of view or opinions
contained within this document are those of the
authors and do not necessarily represent the
official position or policies of the U.S.
Department of Justice. The National Institute of
Justice is a component of the Office of Justice
Programs, which also includes the Bureau of
Justice Assistance, Bureau of Justice Statistics,
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention, and Office for Victims of Crime. 

------------------------------

National Law Enforcement and Corrections
Technology Center System

The National Institute of Justice (NIJ),
responding to recommendations by the law
enforcement and corrections community, converted
its Technology Assessment Program Information
Center (TAPIC) into the National Law Enforcement
and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC) system.
Created in 1994 as a component of NIJ's Office of
Science and Technology, NLECTC's goal, like that
of NIJ, is to offer support, research findings,
and technological expertise to help State and
local law enforcement and corrections personnel
safely and more efficiently do their jobs.

NIJ's NLECTC system consists of facilities located
across the country that are colocated with an
organization or agency that specializes in one or
more specific areas of research and development.
Although each of the NLECTC facilities has a
different technology focus, they work together to
form a seamless web of support and technology
development and information to help the law
enforcement and corrections communities do their
jobs more safely and efficiently.

NLECTC-National
2277 Research Boulevard
Rockville, MD 20850
Phone: 800-248-2742
Fax: 301-519-5149
E-mail: nlectc@aspensys.com

The National Center, located just 30 minutes north
of Washington, D.C., is the hub of the NLECTC
system. It provides information and referral
services to anyone with a question about law
enforcement and corrections equipment or
technology. Its staff manages the voluntary
equipment standards and testing program that tests
and verifies the performance of body armor,
metallic handcuffs, shotguns, and police vehicles
and tires. This office produces consumer product
lists of equipment meeting a specific set of
performance standards and also operates JUSTNET
(Justice Technology Information Network), an
Internet World Wide Web site that provides links
to the entire NLECTC system and other appropriate
sites, as well as assistance to those seeking
information about equipment, technology, or
research findings.

NLECTC-Northeast
26 Electronic Parkway
Rome, NY 13441
Phone: 888-338-0584
Fax: 315-330-4315
E-mail: nlectc_ne@rl.af.mil

NLECTC-Northeast is located at the Rome
Laboratories on the grounds of the Griffiss
Business and Technology Park (formerly Griffiss
Air Force Base). The center sponsors research and
development efforts into technologies that address
command, control, communications, computers, and
intelligence. This center draws on the expertise
of Air Force scientists and engineers in its
development of technologies that can be used to
detect concealed weapons on people, an effort that
is expected to yield a stationary device for use
in buildings and handheld devices for patrol
officers. Other areas of research and development
include the creation of an automatic booking
system, automated firearms identification,
multiband multifunction radios, transportable
communication systems, and a computerized
automatic language translation system.

NLECTC-Southeast
7325 Peppermill Parkway
North Charleston, SC 29418-7404
Phone: 800-292-4385
Fax: 803-207-7776
E-mail: nlectc-se@nlectc-se.org

Two of the focus areas of NLECTC-Southeast are
corrections technologies and surplus property
acquisition and distribution for law enforcement
and corrections. The center facilitates the
acquisition and redistribution of Federal
surplus/excess property to State and local law
enforcement and corrections agencies. The
equipment must be used for law enforcement
purposes only. Utilizing the JUSTNET Web site, the
center educates law enforcement and corrections
professionals about Federal surplus and purchasing
programs. The efforts of NLECTC-Southeast have
resulted in agencies receiving equipment they
would not ordinarily have access to or might not
have been able to afford due to budgetary
constraints. This facility also studies the needs
of corrections agencies. It is guided in this
mission by a committee of criminal justice, law
enforcement, and corrections practitioners that
identifies requirements and sets priorities for
research and development. NLECTC-Southeast is
allied with the South Carolina Research Authority
(SCRA) and the Naval Command, Control and Ocean
Surveillance Center In-Service Engineering, East
Coast Division (NISE East). NLECTC-Southeast's
other areas of focus include information
management and technologies, simulation training,
and designated special projects.

NLECTC-Rocky Mountain
2050 East Iliff Avenue
Denver, CO 80208
Phone: 800-416-8086 or 303-871-2522 in the Denver
area
Fax: 303-871-2500
E-mail: nlectc@du.edu

Located at the University of Denver, NLECTC-Rocky
Mountain focuses on communications
interoperability and the difficulties that often
occur when different agencies and jurisdictions
try to communicate with one another. This facility
works with law enforcement agencies, private
industry, and national organizations to implement
projects that will identify and field test new
technologies to help solve the problem of
interoperability. NLECTC-Rocky Mountain also
houses the newly created Crime Mapping Technology
Center, the training and practical application arm
of NIJ's Crime Mapping Research Center, which is
staffed by NIJ social scientists and scholars who
utilize crime analysis research to improve police
field operations and develop crime-mapping
software for small, medium, and large departments.
The Rocky Mountain facility also conducts research
into ballistics and weapons technology, as well as
information systems. Sandia National Laboratory
has been designated as a satellite of NLECTC-Rocky
Mountain. The laboratory works in partnership with
NLECTC-Rocky Mountain and focuses on technology
for detecting and neutralizing explosive devices
(Operation Albuquerque).

NLECTC-West
c/o The Aerospace Corporation
2350 East El Segundo Boulevard
El Segundo, CA 90245-4691
Phone: 310-336-2222
Fax: 310-336-2227
E-mail: nlectc@law-west.org

NLECTC-West is housed on the grounds of The
Aerospace Corporation, a nonprofit corporation
that provides technical oversight and engineering
expertise to the Air Force and the U.S. Government
on space technology and space security systems.
NLECTC-West draws on The Aerospace Corporation's
depth of knowledge and scientific expertise to
offer law enforcement and corrections the ability
to analyze and enhance audio, video, and
photographic evidence. In cooperation with The
Aerospace Corporation, this NLECTC facility also
has available an extensive array of analytic
instrumentation to aid in criminal investigations,
such as a scanning electron microscope, an x-ray
microscope, and a mass spectrometer, all of which
are used to process trace evidence. Its other
areas of expertise include computer architecture,
data processing, communications systems, and a
recent effort to identify technologies to stop
fleeing vehicles.

Border Research and Technology Center (BRTC)
1250 Sixth Avenue, Suite 130
San Diego, CA 92101
Phone: 619-685-1491
Fax: 619-685-1484
E-mail: brtcchrisa@aol.com

The Border Research and Technology Center works
with the Immigration and Naturalization Service,
the U.S. Border Patrol, the U.S. Customs Service,
the White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy, and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern
District of California to develop strategies and
technologies that will facilitate control of the
Southwest border. One of its most recognized
accomplishments has been the implementation of
SENTRI (Secured Electronic Network for Travelers'
Rapid Inspection). BRTC also works on joint
ventures to identify technologies that will stop
fleeing vehicles and is currently participating in
a project to detect the heartbeats of people
concealed in vehicles or other containers.

Office of Law Enforcement Standards (OLES)
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Building 225
Gaithersburg, MD 20899
Phone: 301-975-2757
Fax: 301-948-0978
E-mail: oles@nist.gov

Supported by NIJ, the Office of Law Enforcement
Standards applies science and technology to the
needs of the criminal justice community. While its
major objective is to develop minimum performance
standards for equipment and technology, which NIJ
promulgates as voluntary national standards, OLES
also undertakes studies leading to the publication
of technical reports and user guides. Its areas of
research include clothing, communications systems,
emergency equipment, investigative aids,
protective equipment, security systems, vehicles,
and weapons. It also develops measurement methods
for analytical techniques and standard reference
materials for forensic scientists and crime labs.
Since the program began in 1971, OLES has
coordinated the development of nearly 200
standards, user guides, and advisory reports.
Housed at the National Institute of Standards and
Technology, OLES works closely with NLECTC-
National to conduct tests and to guarantee the
performance and quality of equipment used by
police and corrections.

Office of Law Enforcement Technology
Commercialization (OLETC)
Wheeling Jesuit University
316 Washington Avenue
Wheeling, WV 26003
Phone: 888-306-5382
Fax: 304-243-2131
E-mail: oletc@nttc.edu

Housed at Wheeling Jesuit University, the Office
of Law Enforcement Technology Commercialization
provides one of the NLECTC system's most important
services, that of bringing research and private
industry together to put new technologies into the
hands of law enforcement and corrections. OLETC
actively solicits manufacturers to commercialize
technologies based on requirements identified by
law enforcement and corrections practitioners. For
example, it is currently seeking companies
interested in commercializing technologies already
developed by the U.S. Department of Energy's Los
Alamos National Laboratory, such as a device that
lets police officers detect crack houses from a
distance, microwave and acoustic sensors that
detect the motion of people behind walls or doors,
and a nondetectable, nonscannable transmitter for
use in undercover situations. OLETC works with
private industry to support its efforts and help
companies streamline the commercialization
process.

National Center for Forensic Science
University of Central Florida
P.O. Box 162367
Orlando, FL 32816-2367
Phone: 407-823-6469
Fax: 407-823-3162
E-mail: natlctr@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu

The newest addition to the NLECTC system, this
facility is housed in the University of Central
Florida and initially will focus on arson and
explosives research. Its mission is to conduct
fundamental research into the basic nature of fire
and explosion reactions, provide the support for
developing standard protocols for analyzing arson
and explosion debris, promote the use of
electronic media to access and exchange
information about the forensic sciences, and
provide education opportunities to practicing
professionals and full-time students. This new
facility will draw on the experience and expertise
of the university, which houses a forensic science
program with an active research program, as well
as the Institute of Simulation and Training, which
is currently exploring ways to simulate explosive
reactions to study various chemical processes.

------------------------------

Helping To Prevent In-Custody Deaths: New Video
for Jail Personnel

The National Institute of Justice's (NIJ's) Office
of Law Enforcement Technology Commercialization
(OLETC) and the National Institute of Corrections
will soon have available a new informational
videotape on preventing in-custody deaths related
to positional asphyxia.

Targeted to the many smaller county and municipal
jail facilities throughout the United States, this
videotape highlights the correct procedures to use
when restraining a violent prisoner as well as the
safety precautions to follow to help jail
personnel prevent medical problems.

"This video not only provides jail personnel
information about why and how positional asphyxia
occurs, but also offers suggestions and
recommendations that can help reduce the potential
of in-custody death," says Bill Chard, OLETC
manager of support services and videotape project
manager. The video, he says, details such
precautions as:

o Never leave a fully restrained prisoner on his
stomach for any length of time.

o Never sit on a prisoner's back while restraining
him. 

o Never hog-tie a prisoner.

o Always keep a fully restrained prisoner under
continual observation. 

o Obtain medical assistance as soon as possible if
a medical problem of any kind is suspected. Watch
for breathing difficulties, discoloration of the
skin, and profuse sweating. Also be aware that a
prisoner who is suddenly violent and then just as
quickly turns docile may need medical assistance.

"This is an informational video that can be shown
to all jail personnel to develop better facility
policies and procedures and training programs,"
Chard says. "We've used as many scenarios as
possible to show staff how to reduce the
confrontational nature of these events and to
attempt to reduce the possibility of positional
asphyxia and an in-custody death."

To obtain a copy of the videotape, contact the
National Law Enforcement and Corrections
Technology Center (NLECTC)-National in Rockville,
Maryland, at 800-248-2742. Or, contact the
National Institute of Corrections in Longmont,
Colorado, at 800-995-6429. An informational
bulletin about positional asphyxia is available
from NLECTC-National or online through JUSTNET,
NLECTC's World Wide Web site at
http://www.nlectc.org.

1st International Land Transportation Security
Technology Conference

On April 7-9, 1998, the National Institute of
Justice (NIJ) and the U.S. Departments of State
and Transportation (DOT) are sponsoring the first
International Land Transportation Security
Technology Conference, designed to help government
leaders and law enforcement practitioners improve
land transportation security through the use of
technology.

Transportation is one of the eight critical
national infrastructures identified to be of such
importance that its incapacitation or destruction
would have a dramatic effect on the defense,
economic security, and public welfare of the
United States. "When one considers that we have 4
million miles of public roads in which 20 million
trucks travel for business purposes; 100,000 miles
of railroad track carrying 1.2 million operating
freight cars; and 6,000 transit entities operating
rapid transit rail and bus services, one can
better appreciate the importance of being prepared
to deal with not only a cyber attack, but also a
physical attack on a land transportation system,"
says Dr. Marj Leaming, NIJ program manager for
transportation security technology. "International
rules govern attacks on air travel and shipping,
but no similar conventions pertain to terrorist
attacks on ground transportation. Therefore,
Federal interagency efforts have been initiated to
protect public transportation systems in the
domestic arena. The goals of these cooperative
ventures are two-pronged: (1) enhance the
capability of local agencies to detect and prevent
a terrorist attack and (2) improve the emergency
response and containment capabilities after an
attack."

The G-7/P-8 countries (United States, Canada,
Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan, and
Russia) met at the Lyon Summit in Paris on July
30, 1996, and adopted a 25-point plan calling for
close cooperation in international efforts to
combat terrorist acts. Based on commitments made
by U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno and then
Transportation Secretary Federico Pe¤a at this
meeting, two gatherings for land transportation
security policymakers were held in Washington,
D.C., in November 1996 and April 1997 under
sponsorship of the Departments of Transportation
and State. The purpose of the April 1998
conference will be to place important information
in the hands of State and local law enforcement
and public safety officers that will strengthen
the first line of defense against terrorists in
the United States.

"This conference is a unique opportunity for
transportation security professionals and first
responders to learn from domestic and
international experts who have experienced and
survived terrorist attacks," says Leaming. The
conference will highlight lessons learned and best
practices, and showcase technologies to enhance
operational effectiveness and decisionmaking. The
program will focus on threats and vulnerabilities,
technology and tools, and issues for policymakers.
Conference topics and panel presentations will
include:

o The International Association of Chiefs of
Police (IACP)/Total Security Systems, Inc. (TSSI)
First Responder Practical Exercise.

o Weapons, explosives, and chemical detection
systems and sensors.

o Surveillance systems and solutions.

o Information system security and command and
control systems.

o Emergency management.

o Simulation and training tools.

o Vulnerability assessments.

o First-responder capabilities, including
chemical, biological, and radiological
containment; hostage and extortion situations; and
mass casualty triage and treatment.

The conference will be held at the Marriott
Marquis in Atlanta, Georgia. It is being hosted by
the National Law Enforcement and Corrections
Technology Center (NLECTC)-Southeast, with support
from Eagan, McAllister Associates (EMA) and
Government Technology magazine. For more
information, contact Jim Scutt at EMA, 703-820-
0600; Bill Nettles at NLECTC-Southeast, 800-292-
4385; or Marina Leight at Government Technologies,
916-363-5000, ext. 3764, or e-mail
mleight@govtech.net.

------------------------------

X-Marks the Spot

Computerized crime mapping may be the most
versatile tool ever to find its way to policing.
It is one of the few technologies that can be used
by administrators and patrol officers, citizens,
and city officials. It supports both community
policing and community corrections efforts while
helping command staff efficiently allocate
resources.

Simply put, computerized crime mapping is the
high-tech equivalent of sticking colored pushpins
in a wall map--something police have done for
decades. But more than that, it offers law
enforcement the ability to marry crime statistics
with causative factors. As an example, a
multidimensional map of crimes in the past 30 days
can be overlaid with maps of unemployment rates in
the areas of high crime, locations of abandoned
houses, reports of drug activity, or geographic
features such as alleys, bayous, canals, or open
fields.

This ability to turn crime statistics into more
meaningful information is what helped the New York
City Police Department (NYPD) lower overall crime
by 39 percent. The department uses Compstat, a
process that uses mapping (done with MapInfo and a
tailormade front-end user interface) to identify
crime problems and hold law enforcement officers--
from precinct commanders to patrol officers--
accountable for crime problems and preventative
enforcement. Maps used during the Compstat process
are displayed on large screens during semiweekly
meetings that include uniformed officers,
citizens, and representatives from probation,
parole, corrections, and the district attorney's
office.

But this NYPD initiative is just one among many in
the United States. More and more, police agencies
large and small are beginning to use mapping
technologies. To support their efforts, the
National Institute of Justice (NIJ) recently
opened the Crime Mapping Research Center (CMRC),
headquartered in Washington D.C., with a satellite
office at the National Law Enforcement and
Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC)-Rocky
Mountain in Denver, Colorado. According to CMRC
Director Nancy La Vigne, the center is undertaking
several initiatives that will enable its staff to
offer resources and services and guide departments
in using mapping technologies.

La Vigne says that CMRC plans to lead the way in
the area of research by tapping into the expertise
available in other disciplines. The center will
offer fellowships to practitioners, researchers,
and academicians from fields where mapping has
been used for many years. "It will give them an
opportunity to study crime, and give us an
opportunity to learn from them," she says. "We
have the best equipment and every mapping program
you've ever heard of. We have lots of resources
here, but we're hungry for more knowledge."

La Vigne adds that CMRC staff are also developing
training programs. The center recently conducted a
3-day symposium in conjunction with NLECTC-Rocky
Mountain that brought together researchers and
practitioners from all areas of criminal justice.
More than 400 participants attended workshops on
such topics as analyzing spatial data, cluster
analysis, designing a system, mapping for
community policing, and mapping applications in
probation, parole, and corrections.

"We had a lot of practitioners at the conference
who were experienced in mapping and crime
analysis. But, we had a whole lot of other people
who said they knew next to nothing and wanted more
information," La Vigne notes.

One of the most popular workshops at the symposium
focused on incorporating geographic information
systems (GIS) into planning and management. "It
gave them a chance to actually see how mapping
could be put to work in their own departments,"
states Jim Keller, director of NLECTC-Rocky
Mountain. "Our job is to come up with a set of
training approaches and to take the technology
into the field and help departments get started.
Do we do it by short course or resident education?
Do we go out into the field and offer 1-week
courses? How much interest is there in continuing
formal education? Since we are colocated with
Denver University, we have a whole set of
facilities here we can use."

CMRC is also interested in offering training via
the Internet, on CD-ROM, and through distance
learning. Development of training strategies will
be driven in part, La Vigne says, by the center's
evaluation of the current state of mapping. CMRC
staff are presently studying the results of a
survey of 2,700 law enforcement agencies on the
level, nature, and use of mapping in the United
States.

Other CMRC goals include the creation of a
national geocoded data archive, new analytic
software, and promoting partnerships between
software and data vendors and law enforcement to
ensure that what is developed is really usable.
According to La Vigne, one of those partnerships
currently involves California's Salinas Police
Department and Environmental Systems Research
Institute (ESRI) of Redland, California, one of
the original developers of mapping software.

The Salinas Police Department's mapping system was
primarily developed to track gang activities,
members, territories, hot spots, and gun use. But
it also incorporates information about field
contacts, citations, incident reports, and
locations of burglaries, robberies, assaults,
homicides, drug deals, and drive-by shootings. The
result is a series of maps that shows patterns and
relationships between events and gangs. This
user-friendly system is easily accessed by
officers, who do not necessarily need to have
correct spellings or know a particular crime code.
The officers have a wide range of search options
and can run spatial searches and display crime
patterns on a street map using different symbols
for each type of crime. Officers also can map gang
territories and correlate socioeconomic factors
with crime-related incidents. According to Salinas
Police Department statistics, results have been
dramatic. Murders are down by 61 percent, drive-by
shootings by 31 percent, and gang-related assaults
by 23 percent.

CMRC also wants to promote partnerships among
police agencies, La Vigne says. "Spatial crime
analysis tends to be hindered by the fact that
analysts are limited to data within their
departments' jurisdictional boundaries, precluding
the identification of patterns for mobile crimes
such as auto theft. We'd like to help neighboring
agencies share data. A good example of this type
of partnership is a consortium formed by a number
of departments in and around Baltimore County,
Maryland, that share a common suspect and offense
database and then link it with a mapping program.
We're trying to promote what they're doing as a
model for others."

Finally, she says, CMRC plans to promote mapping
as a resource in other areas of criminal justice
such as corrections, probation, parole, and the
courts. For example, it could be used to map
parolees for monitoring purposes or probationers
in assigning caseloads to probation officers. It
could track where a sex offender plans to live in
relation to schools and day care centers. It also
could be used in court to support prosecution
efforts.

Although the center opened only recently, La Vigne
says that it is well on its way to providing a
host of services to law enforcement and
corrections. One fellowship has already been
completed, and CMRC is currently accepting
applications for more. A number of grants have
been funded to enable further study or
implementation of mapping technology. A listserv
is online, boasting practitioners, researchers,
and academicians from the United States as well as
Canada, England, Australia, and South Africa. "And
if the success of the mapping symposium in Denver
is any indication," she says, "the center's
future, especially in the area of training, looks
especially bright."

For more information about the Crime Mapping
Resource Center and its services, contact Nancy La
Vigne in Washington, D.C., at 202-616-4531, or Jim
Keller at NLECTC-Rocky Mountain at 800-416-8086.
The CMRC World Wide Web site can be accessed at
http://www.nlectc.org/cmrc. Instructions for
subscribing to the listserv can be accessed
through CMRC News and Notes on the center's Web
site.

------------------------------

New Publications

The following publications are available from the
National Law Enforcement and Corrections
Technology Center:

TechBeat, October 1997. This issue of TechBeat
includes articles on developments in image
analysis and concealed weapons detection
technologies, innovations in technology to stop
fleeing vehicles, and efforts to improve security
along the Nation's borders.

Technology for Community Policing Conference
Report. This report covers a series of five
regional conferences held during the summer and
fall of 1996 that focused on how technology can
enhance community policing. The conferences
featured presentations on approaches to using
technology to strengthen partnerships between the
community and police and to develop strategies to
fight crime.

Equipment Performance Report: 1997 Patrol Vehicle
Tires. This report provides results of
comprehensive testing of 1997 patrol vehicle
tires. The report contains a large amount of data
generated throughout the evaluation, which was
conducted under a variety of test conditions.

1997 Evaluation of Replacement Brake Pads for
Police Patrol Vehicles. This bulletin summarizes
the results of the May 1997 comprehensive
evaluation of replacement brake pads for police
patrol vehicles. The evaluation can help police
departments evaluate these vital auto parts before
they stake their officers' lives on them. 

Police Body Armor Consumer Product List Update
Fall 1997. This consumer product list (CPL)
identifies models of armor that were tested and
found to comply with the NIJ standard. CPLs are
updated to include new models that have passed the
test. This edition is an update to the Spring 1994
edition of the CPL; both documents are required to
have a complete listing of NIJ-approved models.

Michigan State Police Tests 1998 Patrol Vehicles.
Every year, the Michigan State Police tests new
patrol vehicles as part of their procurement
policy. This bulletin summarizes test results of
the 1998 patrol vehicles.

The following publications will be available soon:

Selection and Application Guide to Police Body
Armor. While body armor is a household word in the
law enforcement community, questions about its
selection and use are frequently asked. This guide
responds to commonly expressed concerns. It
provides information to assist in determining the
level of protection required for individual
officers consistent with the threats to which they
are exposed.

Equipment Performance Report: 1997 Evaluation of
Replacement Brake Pads for Police Patrol Vehicles.
This report provides complete results of the May
1997 comprehensive evaluation of replacement brake
pads for police patrol vehicles. The report
contains a large amount of data generated
throughout the evaluation, which was conducted
under a variety of test conditions.

Equipment Performance Report: 1998 Model Year
Patrol Vehicle Testing. This report provides
complete data on the 1998 Michigan State Police
patrol vehicle testing. 

To obtain any of the above publications or to
receive additional copies of the TechBeat
newsletter at no cost, write NLECTC, P.O. Box
1160, Rockville, MD 20849-1160; telephone 800-248-
2742; or download from JUSTNET at
http://www.nlectc.org.

------------------------------

Sign Up To Receive Free Reports From the National
Criminal Justice Reference Service

In addition to funding the National Law
Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center, NIJ
also supports the National Criminal Justice
Reference Service (NCJRS), an international
clearinghouse on crime and justice information.
NCJRS staff respond to reference questions,
provide referrals to other resources, distribute
NIJ and other Office of Justice Programs (OJP)
documents, and maintain a mailing list of over
45,000 registered users. If you are interested in
signing up for the NCJRS mailing list, you may
request a registration form using any of the
following methods:

Fax-on-Demand. Dial 800-851-3420, select option 1,
then option 2. The registration form is #1 on the
document index. The form will be faxed to you
immediately.

Fax. You may fax your request for a registration
form to 410-792-4358. You will receive a form
promptly in the mail.

E-mail. Send an e-mail to askncjrs@ncjrs.org and
request a registration form. It will be sent to
you in the mail.

Write. Send a written request to NCJRS, Box 6000,
Rockville, MD 20849-6000.

Call. You may call an NCJRS information specialist
and request a registration form. The number is
800-851-3420.

As a registered user, you will receive the
bimonthly NCJRS Catalog, the quarterly NIJ
Journal, and selected reports based on your
criminal justice interests. For more information
about NIJ and NCJRS, visit their Web sites:
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij and
http://www.ncjrs.org.

------------------------------

TechBeat is the flagship publication of the
National Law Enforcement and Corrections
Technology Center system. Our goal is to keep you
up to date on technologies that are currently
being developed by the NLECTC system, as well as
other research and development efforts within the
Federal Government and private industry. Your
questions, comments, and story ideas are always
welcome. Contact: Rick Neimiller, managing editor,
through NLECTC-National, 800-248-2742, or e-mail
to nlectc@aspensys.com. Writer and contributing
editor, Lois Pilant. Reproduction of any part of
this publication is encouraged by NLECTC unless
otherwise indicated.

------------------------------

NLECTC Is Online

o Information on new technologies, equipment, and
other products and services available to law
enforcement, corrections, and the criminal justice
communities, including access to a database of
over 4,000 available products and technologies.

o Breaking News from printed media, the Internet,
individual facilities of the NLECTC system, and
the Nation's Capital.

o Publications from NIJ and NLECTC that you can
view or download to your system.

o Interactive Topic Boards that allow you to post
questions and exchange information with hundreds
of professionals in their specialty areas.

o Frequently Asked Questions that offer detailed
information based on thousands of calls to our
information specialists.

o Calendar of Events that lists the latest
upcoming meetings, seminars, and training.

o Links to other important law enforcement and
corrections Web sites.

For help in establishing an Internet connection,
linking to JUSTNET, or finding needed technology
and product information, call the NLECTC
Information Hotline at 800-248-2742. To receive
future issues of the TechBeat newsletter at no
charge, call 800-248-2742 or e-mail
nlectc@aspensys.com.