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Prisons Use RFID Systems to Track Inmates
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The use of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags is developing a niche in U.S. correctional facilities. RFID can be used as a tracking system in prisons, which lets correctional officers keep tabs on inmates and mitigate or prevent disturbances. In the event of an assault or other emergency situation, staff will immediately know the identities and prison histories of everyone involved, because every infraction committed by an inmate is stored in a database. Investigations can be finished much more quickly, and the facility can avoid going into lockdown mode, which puts a strain on staff. Prison administrators can use RFID tags for other purposes, such as keeping rival gang members away from one another. The system can be set up to trigger an alarm whenever rival gang members get within 10 feet of each other. The systems also can track an inmate suspected of being a ''mule,'' or a contraband carrier. The person can be tracked all day to see where he goes and with whom he is in contact. Correctional facilities in California, Virginia, Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, and Minnesota have deployed RFID tracking systems to help manage inmates. In its limited use thus far, RFID has proved its worth as a security tool for correctional systems. As prisons continue to deal with overcrowding, RFID could be a necessary piece of equipment in the future for corrections.
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High Fuel Costs: A Problem-Solving Challenge
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As rising fuel costs put the squeeze on law enforcement department budgets, chiefs and sheriffs are searching for ways to sustain their current level of operations, while using less gasoline. Some are finding their solutions in differential responses to calls for service, modified patrol methods, and use of vehicles with improved gas mileage or alternative fuels. The need to find innovative ways to save on fuel costs while continuing to provide the level of service communities have come to expect is likely to remain a long-term challenge for police chiefs and sheriffs. This article’s review of recent news coverage of higher fuel costs, as well as conversations that were conducted with a variety of law enforcement officials, suggest that there are a number of ways that agencies can mitigate the impact on their agency budget. This article strives to highlight some short-term as well as potentially long-term solutions found, an important consideration because gas is unlikely to return to the lower prices enjoyed in the past.
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NASCIO on Data Governance: An Essential Discipline for Managing State Information
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The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) is pleased to announce the release of its new issue brief ‘‘Data Governance Part I – An Introduction.’’ This issue brief is part of NASCIO’s series on Enterprise Governance and presents an overview of this very broad subject. Data governance is presented as an operating discipline that must ultimately encompass all types of electronic data, information, and knowledge as enterprise assets that must be well managed in order to enable government to deliver positive citizen outcomes. The governance challenge was ranked as one of the top ten priorities of state CIOs in a survey of the states conducted in October 2007. This issue brief is available at: www.nascio.org/publications.
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Police Launch Online Crime-Alerting System
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The Plano (Texas) Police Department has partnered with CrimeReports.com to alert citizens when a crime situation occurs in their area. The free service provides easy-to-read incident crime maps and automated alerts. The CrimeReports service is free to the public and allows citizens to receive automatic daily, weekly, or monthly e-mail alerts, if and when crimes occur near their home, office, or local school. Citizens can also view reported crime activity for any location within Plano's boundaries. Crime incident data is updated nightly and includes incident type, date, location, distance from citizen's address, case number, and brief crime incident description. The CrimeReports service is an implementation of the Global Justice XML Data Model (GJXDM), the authorized data sharing protocol developed and supported by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Using GJXDM as the underlying technology gives the application much more versatility and flexibility. If adjacent law enforcement agencies choose to integrate with the service, side-by-side data will be readily available for both alerting and analytics. For more information or to sign up for this service, please visit the Plano Police Department's Web site at www.plano.gov/departments/police. The service was launched in beta with the Metropolitan Police of Washington, DC, in March 2007 and was made available to any accredited law enforcement agency in the United States in August 2007.
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Global Justice Information Sharing Initiative (Global) Advisory Committee (GAC) Meeting Summary (Agenda), April 10, 2008 
The Value of Information Sharing to Local Government Executives