Forwarded From: Nicholas Charles Brawn <ncb05at_private> WSJ: Gore To Unveil High-Tech Effort Against Crime DJ 5/19/98 7:01 AM By John Simons Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal WASHINGTON -- Vice President Al Gore is expected to unveil a White House effort to strengthen federal law enforcement, an initiative that includes arming agents with James Bond-like high-technology gadgets. In a speech today at the 17th annual Peace Officers Memorial Services here, Mr. Gore is expected to announce that the Energy Department will share its vast storehouse of valuable technology with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Until now, the tools had been used only by the Energy Department to root out Cold War espionage. The initiative doesn't involve any additional funds. The technology that will be shared with FBI and ATF agents includes: -- Portable chemical-analysis machines that can gather forensic crime-scene data. -- Software used to track cellular-telephone fraud, Internet pedophile activity and on-line intellectual-property theft. -- Hand-held geographic positioning devices that can record video, store voice notes and help agents visually reconstruct crime scenes. -- Nuclear-detection technology and drug-analysis laboratories. "This new partnership will help law enforcement across the country deploy the cutting-edge technologies of our national labs to fight drugs, violent crime, white-collar crime and terrorism," Mr. Gore said yesterday. "With this landmark agreement, we will be able to fight 21st century crime with 21st century crimefighting tools." Mr. Gore also is expected to ask Congress to pass proposed legislation that provides funding for bulletproof vests for state, local and federal police officers. And he will call for stiff penalties on criminals who use bulletproof vests when they commit crimes. In some sense, the Clinton administration is making up for lost time. In an era when young hackers routinely break into government computers and drug traffickers mask their deeds with encrypted cellular-phone calls, law-enforcement officials and private analysts widely acknowledge that the police are at somewhat of a disadvantage. In his speech, Mr. Gore is expected to highlight a recent example of how technology partnerships can help fight crime. The Energy Department's Oak Ridge National Laboratory helped police in Chattanooga, Tenn., solve a case in which the defendant said that he accidentally shot and killed a store clerk in a scuffle during a 1995 holdup. The police took the store's video surveillance tape to the national lab, where forensic technicians digitally enhanced the video and determined that the shooting was deliberate. When presented with the evidence, the suspect agreed to plead guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life without parole. The local district attorney's office estimates that the lab's work saved more than $100,000 by avoiding a death-penalty trial. (END) DOW JONES NEWS 05-19-98 01:01 AM -o- Subscribe: mail majordomoat_private with "subscribe isn". Today's ISN Sponsor: Repent Security Incorporated [www.repsec.com]
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Apr 13 2001 - 12:53:36 PDT