THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 22, 1994 TAG: 9406220431
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBERT S. BOYD, KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: 940622 LENGTH: WASHINGTON
With crime replacing nuclear annihilation as the nation's worst fear, the departments of Defense and Justice are working together to develop and deploy ingenious new systems to protect Americans against the bad guys.
{REST} ``We won the Cold War, but we're losing the war on the streets,'' said Rep. Patricia Schroeder, D-Colo., sponsor of legislation to expand the government's role in high-tech crime fighting.
Some examples discussed this week at a conference on law enforcement in the 21st century:
Foam shot from a spray gun that turns thick like taffy, immobilizing a rebellious prisoner.
A wave of soap bubbles that makes it impossible for a terrorist to see or hear.
A laser beam that can knock a man down and a microwave system that can disable a vehicle.
A ``personal status monitor'' worn like a wristwatch that reports an injured police officer's vital signs and exact location to headquarters via satellite.
``It's like `Star Trek.' If an officer is in trouble, he can press a button and call for backup,'' said John Pannella of the Pentagon's Advanced Research Projects Agency. ``There's a whole host of Defense Department technologies that could support law enforcement needs.''
Mayor Marc Morial of New Orleans said: ``During the Cold War, we put billions of dollars and our best minds to work. We've got to make the same commitment against crime.''
Unfortunately, police officers can't walk into the Pentagon and pick high-tech gadgets off the shelf. They cost a lot, and some military techniques are dangerous and of questionable legality in civilian situations.
Mayor Kurt Schmoke of Baltimore, for example, is intrigued by sensors that can overhear private conversations inside a building. He said they would help enormously in a kidnapping or hostage situation.
``But we have to be careful how we use them so we don't just listen to people in their homes,'' Schmoke said.
David Rudovsky, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania, said controls are essential. ``Every police technology we have seen - from dogs to batons to Mace - has been abused,'' he said.
Law enforcement leaders complained that they are overmatched by modern criminals and drug lords, who sometimes have more sophisticated equipment than they do.
``We're equipped almost the same as Wyatt Earp,'' said Robert Beck, deputy chief of the Anne Arundel County Police Department near Baltimore.
Laura Chick, a member of the Los Angeles City Council, said police in her city ``are left with metal sticks and guns.''
Lack of money is the main barrier to high-tech crime-fighting, Chick said. Los Angeles police first need more of the basics, such as two-way radios, computers and cellular phones.
As part of the crime bill, the House has authorized $37 million and the Senate $21 million for research on high-tech weapons. The difference will be settled this summer.
These sums, however, are peanuts compared with the $9 billion the bill contains to hire 100,000 more police officers.
``Adding 100,000 cops is not going to stop crime,'' said Schroeder, chairwoman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Research and Technology. ``When you spread it around the country, that works out to only six more cops on the street in Denver. So we have to enhance the forces that are there with technology.''
In April, the departments of Defense and Justice signed a five-year agreement to cooperate on solving problems common to the military and law enforcement communities.
Their mutual interest stemmed from two recent developments:
The Pentagon has shifted its focus to small-scale, low-intensity operations, such as in Panama and Somalia, that in many ways resemble police work.
After Tennessee police officers shot and killed a teenage burglar, the Supreme Court forbade police to use ``deadly force'' to stop a fleeing suspect. Cops, therefore, are searching for less-than-lethal devices and techniques.
``If we can put a man on the moon, we ought to be able to give police officers an alternative to letting a fleeing suspect go or killing him,'' former FBI Director William Webster said.
by CNB