Cops now carry electronic databases.

According to a CNN report, a growing number of police departments now have instant access via handheld wireless devices to vast commercial databases that contain details on almost anyone officers may encounter while on their beat.

Police departments have been testing different handheld wireless devices. Typically, they've used them to gain access to law enforcement databases meant only for police that, for example, alert them about someone for whom there is an arrest warrant. At the same time, many police departments have been using desktop computers to search commercial databases to help them gather more detailed information about people they are investigating. These databases hold billions of public records from a variety of sources. Now, police are beginning to access commercial databases using handheld wireless devices.

LocatePLUS Holdings Corp., which told CNN it maintains more than 6 billion records and has data on 98 percent of the U.S. population, announced that it will provide Blackberry wireless devices to state police at Logan International Airport in Boston. Officers can use the devices to access the LocatePLUS database wherever and whenever they need to, however, the records do not include state and federal criminal justice databases or terrorist watch lists. Locate-PLUS said it currently has more than 50 law enforcement agency customers that use wireless handhelds to access its database. According to chief executive Jon Latorella, the company's database takes information from such sources as motor vehicle registries, credit bureaus, property tax departments, courts, and telephone directories--even unlisted numbers--to create computerized dossiers on demand.