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Beyond fingerprints: The FBI's next generation database
New, mammoth database will include not only enhanced fingerprint capabilities, but also other forms of biometric identification like palm prints, iris scans, facial imaging, scars, marks, and tattoos — in one searchable system
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N.Y. policeman illegally obtains, uses U.S. terror watch-list information
NYPD sergeant uses a colleague username and password to access the FBI terrorist watch-list; he then obtains information about an individual on the list — an individual locked in a child custody fight with a friend of the sergeant — and provide the information to the friend’s lawyer
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New car-stopper uses squids' tentacle-based approach
Looking for an answer to stop fleeing cars or suicide trucks hurtling toward their target, an Arizona company developed a tentacle-based device that ensnares the vehicle and brings it to a halt
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U.S. worried that Mexico may be on verge of collapse
With drug-related killings doubling in 2008 over 2007, and with drug lords becoming more brazen in their attacks on the state, the U.S. Joint Forces Command warns of the potential for “rapid and sudden collapse” of the Mexican government
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Offset, or "Move off the Straight Line"
The human body likes to move in straight lines; standing still or moving in straight lines, however, is a dead giveaway to your opponent of your whereabouts, and makes you an easy target for returning fire
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The largest data breach ever?
In what may yet be the largest personal information breach ever, Heartland Payment Systems, which processes payroll and credit card payments for more than 250,000 businesses, announces that consumer credit card data may have been exposed
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U.K. military employs hovering droids in Afghanistan
Hovering petrol-powered prowler patrols to check Afghan ambush alleys so soldiers do not have to; device may be used by law enforcement in urban areas — and future systems may carry weapons
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Security specialist Core Systems sees U.S. prisons as opportunity
Belfast-based Core Systems provides biometric equipment to prisons in the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland; it is now expanding to the United States; with a prison population of 2.2 million; “In the prisons business, the United States is the market leader,” says Patricia O’Hagan, company’s co-owner
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Survey of emergency care cases indicate excessive use of force by police
New survey: Excessive police violence is evident in the types of injury and trauma emergency care doctors are treating in the United States
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The Blackwater example: Private security booming
The war on terror has been a boon for private security companies; Blackwater is one of the more obvious success stories; the company is expanding its menu of offerings: it is wrapping up work on its own armored vehicle, the Grizzly, as well as its Polar Airship 400, a surveillance blimp
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India to establish federal agency to fight terrorism
Stung by the last in a series of deadly terrorist attacks, the Indian government will set up a new agency dedicated to combating terrorism; critics charge the budget and manpower of the new agency will likely be insufficient to the task
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New system locates origin of incoming fire
A Massachusetts company develops a system which helps soldiers pinpoint the location of sniper fire; system has been successfully used in Iraq and Afghanistan
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Tactical weapon retention
A police officer or soldier approaching a criminal or a terrorist would be in dire straits if the bad guy were to grab the officer’s weapon, thus leaving him defenseless; retaining one’s weapon is thus key, and here is a discussion of how to do it
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Old fingerprints help solve heretofore unresolved crimes
A forensic scientist at Northamptonshire Police and the University of Leicester has helped detectives move a step closer to solving a murder case; the key: lifting fingerprints off bullets
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FBI: Growing copper theft threatens U.S. critical infrastructure
The FBI says that, individually, isolated instances of copper theft cause big enough headaches of their own, but taken together, they present a significant problem for the United States — a threat to public safety and to U.S. critical infrastructure
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