Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Police Use High-Tech Gadgets to Bust Criminals

Several recent innovations in law enforcement technology have given police new ways of catching criminals and deterring would-be lawbreakers, a criminal justice blog has pointed out.

In two posts about crime scene investigation tools and high-tech police gadgets, the blog covered several innovative, and kind of sneaky, new technologies the police may soon be implementing in their pursuit of the bad guys.

Some of the highlights:

Brain Fingerprinting - This controversial technology measures the brain's responses to images and words flashed across a computer screen. If these images have anything to do with a crime that was committed, police could use the brain's reactions to determine whether the person was hiding any knowledge about the crime.

StarChase GPS Launcher - By shooting a small, sticky GPS transmitter at a fleeing car, police can track it without having to engage in a dangerous chase. Very James Bond.

Rumbler Intersection Clearing System - To wake up those inattentive drivers who are so engrossed in their own autos they don't notice the approach of police sirens, those sirens may soon be accompanied by heavy, low-frequency sound waves, similar to a bass-heavy stereo system. Also similar to those, it can be felt up to 70 yards away.

Bullet Fingerprinting - This new technique allows forensic scientists to spot tiny areas where human finger sweat has corroded the metal of a bullet casing, preserving useable fingerprint data for years, even after the casing has been wiped off.

SmartWater - This liquid identification system is sprayed onto property, or even burglars, allowing them to be identified later on as the stolen items, or the burglar, they really are.

Magicomm Digital Pen - Using a micro-camera, this pen captures and stores everything an officer writes, such as suspect descriptions, for storage in a central database.