[REQUEST] Law Enforcement Field Database Application

[BoSoxFan]

Originally Posted by Maverick_TN

No one within less than 80 miles has MDTs (now that I think of it, there is one that has a system that is run off of laptops and cellular cards with a vpn and they can get dispatch information/gps), but they are the largest city between Memphis and Nashville. We (or anyone else in the county that I know of.) won't even be getting digital radios until 2013 (FCC Deadline). They haven't said if we will be getting MDTs then either, even then we won't be able to check in house records, only do registration/dl checks/ and (possibly) see dispatch information. Each program we use (reporting/records, CAD, agency terminal) are all totally different and are all seperate from each other. I don't think there is a suite that exists that could possibly tie them all together and our reporting software doesn't have the ability to store anything that isn't related to a specific offense. So storing information about family, work, hangouts, associated vehicles, wants/warrants, and character information isn't an option.

wow, i mean we are by no means a large city/county but we have MDTs for every crusier (even EMS and FIRE have them) as well as Digital (believe me, it isn't worth the extra, i Prefer Analog any day)....oh well, good luck, maybe they can get some federal grant money to get some gear later...

[Maverick_TN]

Originally Posted by Deadpool14

One idea you could consider for getting some software developed, if you are unable to find an acceptable solution. Would be to get in contact with whatever school in Tennessee has teh best Computer Science/Software Engineering programming and find out if they have a capstone or senior design project. My university has such a program and people outside of the university are allowed to submit project ideas. Then you could just submit the project and see if you get enough interest generated for people to choose it.

Not a bad idea, thanks for the suggestion.
I will take that into consideration if I don't have something else work out.

Originally Posted by BoSoxFan

wow, i mean we are by no means a large city/county but we have MDTs for every crusier (even EMS and FIRE have them) as well as Digital (believe me, it isn't worth the extra, i Prefer Analog any day)....oh well, good luck, maybe they can get some federal grant money to get some gear later...

Yeah, just have to wait and see.... I'm not holding my breath though.

[[sammich]]

Keep in mind... if you want to implement your own system for this, you have to secure it like CRAZY. If any of the security isn't up to standards and information is leaked, your badge is on the line.

[Maverick_TN]

Originally Posted by ⌥ saumaun ☢

Keep in mind... if you want to implement your own system for this, you have to secure it like CRAZY. If any of the security isn't up to standards and information is leaked, your badge is on the line.

Well as security is an issue, most of this information is public record. Only the relation of key bits of information to each other is crucial to keep restricted.

Anyone can come to the office and pay $4 and get a copy of any offense report that we have in our system and get 80% or more of this information.

The only thing that is absent from a public copy of a report is stuff like social security numbers and phone numbers (I won't have any use to store social security numbers anyways). Of course the relational information of family and their addresses isn't stored in our system unless their information is related to a specific offense. Everything else is in one of our reports.

I would recommend using SSL for any mySQL server connections and perhaps go an extra step by tunneling it through a vpn ipsec, hamachi, openvpn, or one of the many other vpn setups out there. most support gzip compression along with various levels of encryption. I think that would be about as secure as you can get without putting a hefty load on the device.

As far as if the device is stolen or lost, there are several solutions to that too. lots of free stuff that could be cooked into a rom like Smartprotect, remotetracker, etc... or Flexillis Mobile Security, or several other solutions out that you could use to purge the device/format memory cards etc..

The local database could also be encrypted and unlocked on application startup with a pass key.

[JDM_SOHC]

I found that Police Pro app for WM with just a 2 minute search... Isn't that what you're after?

[Maverick_TN]

Originally Posted by jdmsohc22

I found that Police Pro app for WM with just a 2 minute search... Isn't that what you're after?

Yes, but it doesn't run on WM5+.
It says for Pocket PC 2003 or at least all of the versions I have found.

I actually bought it from Handango and it fails to launch. I've tried it on WM5 [Palm Treo], WM6,6.1,6.5[HTC Titan], and now WM6.1 [HTC Rhodium]. It doesn't launch on any of them.

[Geekcop]

Interesting concept, but something you need to look at is whether you're compling a criminal justice database or criminal intelligence database. There are Federal regualtions which dictate how each type of database can be used, collected, and stored. Then, of course, you have the issue of how you're going to deal with discovery requests from defense counsel.

Law enforcement technology has certainly come along way since I started in 1988, so too have the attendant issues. I encourage you to seek out ways to leverage technology to make the job easier/safer/more effective, but you need to be aware of the hurdles that come with it.

[smurfgod]

Originally Posted by Maverick_TN

No one within less than 80 miles has MDTs (now that I think of it, there is one that has a system that is run off of laptops and cellular cards with a vpn and they can get dispatch information/gps), but they are the largest city between Memphis and Nashville. We (or anyone else in the county that I know of.) won't even be getting digital radios until 2013 (FCC Deadline). They haven't said if we will be getting MDTs then either, even then we won't be able to check in house records, only do registration/dl checks/ and (possibly) see dispatch information. Each program we use (reporting/records, CAD, agency terminal) are all totally different and are all seperate from each other. I don't think there is a suite that exists that could possibly tie them all together and our reporting software doesn't have the ability to store anything that isn't related to a specific offense. So storing information about family, work, hangouts, associated vehicles, wants/warrants, and character information isn't an option.

I have an idea your talking about Jackson and there crocked cops(I'm from there). Huntington is a pretty small town and not to nice..lol(I hated tennessee when I lived there)(too much dope).

Your best bet would be to pick up a cheap PocketPC from ebay. You can prolly pick one up just for doing this for maybe under 100$(file it as a work expense)and you would be good to go.

Hope you get what you need man and good luck.


~Nerd

[Maverick_TN]

Originally Posted by Geekcop

Interesting concept, but something you need to look at is whether you're compling a criminal justice database or criminal intelligence database. There are Federal regualtions which dictate how each type of database can be used, collected, and stored. Then, of course, you have the issue of how you're going to deal with discovery requests from defense counsel.

Law enforcement technology has certainly come along way since I started in 1988, so too have the attendant issues. I encourage you to seek out ways to leverage technology to make the job easier/safer/more effective, but you need to be aware of the hurdles that come with it.

Yeah, I hear ya. The purpose for this is mostly for reference information so that we can look back be reminded of past encounters so that we can be aware of safety precautions, possible outstanding wants/warrants (not based off of this alone of course, but as something to look into further if this subject is encountered again), vehicles this subject has been seen in (so if we visually identify this subject in this vehicle and we confirm a warrant then we can act on it.). Just stuff like that, as far as discovery goes, any information directly related to a case is always put into a case file with a copy of the warrant, report, photographs etc.. This program wouldn't be used to replace field notes for any event.

Originally Posted by smurfgod

I have an idea your talking about Jackson and there crocked cops(I'm from there). Huntington is a pretty small town and not to nice..lol(I hated tennessee when I lived there)(too much dope).

Your best bet would be to pick up a cheap PocketPC from ebay. You can prolly pick one up just for doing this for maybe under 100$(file it as a work expense)and you would be good to go.

Hope you get what you need man and good luck.


~Nerd

Yeah, its Jackson.

Yes, there is a lot of dope around here, its sad just how much too. We have a lot of traffic from Jackson, Memphis, Brownsville, etc.. that manage to drift up here and bring trouble with them.

We do what we can to keep the noise to a minimum, but we know that we aren't winning the war. We just don't have the tools at our disposal to make an impact like the public wants us to. We have done a fairly good job of pushing most of the drug activity out of the public eye, but there is a lot of activity going on daily that we are currently unable to do anything about except when someone slips up.

I'd hate to go out and buy a antiquated device to use that program, but I suppose that is always an option to consider. I just got my new TP2 and I'm trying to find better and bigger uses for it

Thanks for everyone's input. I've been dealing with a family emergency for the past few days and have been out of pocket, just managed to get the HSPL release and flash my TP2 on the day of the release and now i'm using Energy Rom which i'm pretty happy with so far.

[BenC]

Do you do HanDBase? There are a few there and one that I wrote and was able to post as a preliminary paid project - http://www.ddhsoftware.com/gallery.h...=/gallery.html is the link to the applet.

Description from the site:

Police was written using HanDBase version 3. This is the preliminary version of a paid project. Its purpose is to facilitate "on the go" documentation and is structured as a "starter" tracking system, allowing the user to add/delete "child" databases and fields as needed. The "calculated," "linked", "relationship," and "database popup" (DB popup) field types are used throughout the application. There are eleven databases.

Police was written using HanDBase version 3. This is the preliminary version of a paid project. Its purpose is to facilitate "on the go" documentation and is structured as a "starter" tracking system, allowing the user to add/delete "child" databases and fields as needed. The "calculated," "linked", "relationship," and "database popup" (DB popup) field types are used throughout the application. There are eleven databases. The primary database is "Police." It is used as a launching point to the "child" databases. The relationship used is "date." The relationship field type is used to enter/view information related to BOLOs, citations, contacts, field interviews, notes, service calls, subpoenas, time worked, to do, and vehicle unit. The "linked" field type is used to edit the "child" databases. The "child" databases use "time created" as their primary relationship with the "PoliceNotes" "child" database.