D.C. police unveil high-tech crime-fighting system; Computerized system provides officers immediate access to criminal data.WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 21, 1995--The District of Columbia District of Columbia, federal district (2000 pop. 572,059, a 5.7% decrease in population since the 1990 census), 69 sq mi (179 sq km), on the east bank of the Potomac River, coextensive with the city of Washington, D.C. (the capital of the United States). Metropolitan Police Department (MPD MPD maximum permissible dose. MPD abbr. 1. maximal permissible dose 2. multiple personality disorder Multiple personality disorder (MPD) ) and Data General Corporation announced today a new state-of-the-art crime-fighting computer system. Named the Washington Area Criminal Intelligence Information System, (WACIIS WACIIS Washington Area Criminal Intelligence Information System (District of Columbia) ), and based at D.C. Police Headquarters, the system is shared by police officers and detectives for extensive linking and cross-referencing of investigative information associated with criminal investigations. The WACIIS system, based on Data General's AViiON UNIX UNIX Operating system for digital computers, developed by Ken Thompson of Bell Laboratories in 1969. It was initially designed for a single user (the name was a pun on the earlier operating system Multics). type servers and CLARiiON storage products, serves as a powerful criminal information repository An information repository is an easy to deploy secondary tier of data storage that can comprise multiple, networked data storage technologies running on diverse operating systems, where data that no longer needs to be in primary storage is protected, classified according to captured and already contains more than 200,000 investigative reports that can be shared among detectives providing critical investigative data during homicide, robbery, narcotic narcotic, any of a number of substances that have a depressant effect on the nervous system. The chief narcotic drugs are opium, its constituents morphine and codeine, and the morphine derivative heroin. See also drug addiction and drug abuse. and sex-related investigations. The WACIIS client/server architecture An environment in which the application processing is divided between client workstations and servers. It implies the use of desktop computers interacting with servers in a network in contrast to processing everything in a large centralized mainframe. See client/server. allows manually typed reports to be replaced with electronic forms that can be instantly accessed updated, distributed and shared by officers from their PCs. "The new system is not the only answer to this city's crime problem, but it is an important and much needed part of the solution," said D.C. Department Chief of Police Fred Thomas, "This system is a breakthrough for officers, who have the power to check for pieces of data, specific to an investigation from all officers' cases in other districts that might provide the link to a suspect." "Sophisticated information systems such as WACIIS that can be used by investigators 24 hours of every day give police departments an important information edge," said Assistant Police Chief Max Krupo. "In many instances, it is totally unrelated evidence that results in an arrest." Until now, investigative units within the police department have not been able to share or cross reference information electronically. WACIIS stores information on case data, potential suspects, addresses, vehicle and phone numbers in a fault-tolerant CLARiiON mass storage system. For the first time, team detectives from the D.C. Police, FBI, DEA DEA - Data Encryption Algorithm and the ATF ATF Molecular virology Activating transcription factor A cellular protein that stimulates transcription of adenovirus E4 transcription unit, which acts early in infection at any of several 'enhancer' binding sites can tap into WACIIS for extensive linking and cross-referencing of investigative information. "Data General's open systems approach has given the D.C. Police a way to make information a more potent weapon in our crime fighting arsenal," said Assistant Chief Krupo. "In the brief period of time that WACIIS has been operational, our case closure rates have improved and several arrests can be directly attributed to the system." WACIIS is also contributing to solving crimes from years past. The Department is in the process of entering data from cases that for years have gone unresolved. Detectives are anticipating that the same success that has accompanied ongoing investigations can be applied to unsolved crimes where all leads had been exhausted. Critical to the selection of the AViiON and CLARiiON systems as the core of the WACIIS system was Data General's broad consulting capabilities, integration expertise and its past experience in working with police departments. The new PC front-end system includes a Data General AViiON AViiON was a series of computers from Data General that were the company's main product from the late 1980s until the company's server products were discontinued in 2001. Earlier AViiON models used the Motorola 88000 CPU, but later models moved to an all-Intel solution when enterprise server running the company's DG/UX implementation of UNIX, which offers industry-leading high availability features, fault-tolerant storage from a Data General CLARiiON Disk Array and software from ACISS ACISS Advisory Committee on the International Space Station ACISS All Canadian Inspection & Safety Services (Burlington, Ontario, Canada) ACISS Alliance for Competitive International Satellite Services Systems. ACISS Systems, based in Tallahassee, Fla., is a leader in law enforcement software solutions. Its ACISS software combines state-of-the-art information management and on-line data query capabilities with paperless data entry. Data General is an open systems company specializing in providing server, storage products and services to information systems users worldwide. The company, which is headquartered in Westboro, Mass., reported revenues of $1.12 billion in fiscal 1994. -0- AViiON and CLARiiON are registered trademarks and DG/UX is a trademark of Data General Corp. All other brand and product names may be registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective holders. CONTACT: Edelman Worldwide George W. Goldman, Kendra Collins, 212/704-4440/8286 |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion