Technology
| By : Gurpreet Kaur | Previous | Next |
| Posted on : 02 Sep, 2005 | Total Views : 1518 |
ELECTRONICS 5
Crime Prevention
Computers and miniature electronic eavesdropping devices are new weapons being used in the relentless effort to reduce crime. Criminals in the state of California are now being tracked down by an electronic sleuth in the form of a sophisticated data processing system. The general-purpose computer stores records of criminal activities, data on registered firearms, updated lists of lost, stolen, and pawned property, statistics on drug addicts and narcotic activities, and detailed descriptions of the modus operandi of criminals.
With such an electronic system, a police officer can isolate a list of possible suspects by phoning a description to the computer center. To illustrate the scope of this particular installation, in Sacramento more than 8 million name cards— with real names and aliases—are filed, more than 6 million fingerprints are processed, and close to 1.7 million inquiries are handled each year.
Another area receiving considerable attention from law-enforcement officers involves electronic eavesdropping, or "bugging." Modern equipment includes an FM bumper-mounted transmitter for surveillance of moving vehicles. Magnets on the transmitter case fasten the device to the inside bumper strip or to the underside of the auto chassis. Another device is a tiny AM transmitter designed to be mounted within a radio or television cabinet. The set's speaker is used as the pickup microphone, and the set's line cord is used as the transmitting antenna. A third bug is an ultra-compact telephone pickup amplifier using state-of-the-art microelectronic devices. Perhaps the buggiest device is a "spike-mike," which can be driven into the wall of a room adjacent to the one in which conversation is to be monitored. Sound vibrations are picked up by the microphone and then amplified for listening or tape recording.
