As crime globalizes, so does crime fighting. Mobsters,
serial killers, and terrorists cross state lines and borders
effortlessly, making use of the latest advances in mass
media, public transportation, telecommunications, and
computer networks. The police - there are 16,000 law
enforcement agencies in the Unites States alone - is never
very far behind.
Quotes from the official Web pages of some of these
databases:
National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime
(NCAVC)
Its mission is to combine investigative and operational
support functions, research, and training in order to
provide assistance, without charge, to federal, state, local,
and foreign law enforcement agencies investigating
unusual or repetitive violent crimes. The NCAVC also
provides support through expertise and consultation in
non-violent matters such as national security, corruption,
and white-collar crime investigations.
It comprises the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU), Child
Abduction and Serial Murder Investigative Resources
Center (CASMIRC), and Violent Criminal
Apprehension Program (VICAP).
VICAP is a nationwide data information center designed
to collect, collate, and analyze crimes of violence -
specifically murder. It collates and analyzes the
significant characteristics of all murders, and other violent
offenses.
Homicide Investigation Tracking System (HITS)
A program within the Washington state's Attorney
General's Office that tracks and investigates homicides
and rapes.
Violent Crime Linkage System (ViCLAS)
Canada-wide computer system that assists specially
trained investigators to identify serial crimes and
criminals by focusing on the linkages that exist among
crimes by the same offender. This system was developed
by the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) in the
early 1990s.
UTAP, stands for The Utah Criminal Tracking and
Analysis Project
Gathers experts from forensic science, crime scene
analysis, psychiatry and other fields to screen unsolved
cases for local law enforcement agencies.
International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO) -
Interpol's DNA Gateway
Provides for the transfer of profile data between two or
more countries and for the comparison of profiles that
conform to Interpol standards in a centralized database.
Investigators can access the database via their Interpol
National Central Bureau (NCB) using Interpol's secure
global police communications system, I-24/7.
Interpol's I-24/7
Global communication system to connect its member
countries and provide them with user-friendly access to
police information. Using this system, Interpol National
Central Bureaus (NCBs) can search and cross-check data
in a matter of seconds, with direct and immediate access
to databases containing critical information (ASF
Nominal database of international criminals, electronic
notices, stolen motor vehicles, stolen/lost/counterfeit
travel and ID documents, stolen works of art, payment
cards, fingerprints and photographs, a terrorism watch list,
a DNA database, disaster victim identification,
international weapons tracking and trafficking in human
beings-related information, etc).
Interpol Fingerprints
Provides information on the development and
implementation of fingerprinting systems for the general
public and international law enforcement entities.
Europol (European Union's criminal intelligence
agency) Computer System (TECS)
Member States can directly input data into the information
system in compliance with their national procedures, and
Europol can directly input data supplied by non EU
Member States and third bodies. Also provides analyses
and indexing services.
http://www.atg.wa.gov/hits/index.shtml
http://www.mass.gov/msp/unitpage/vicap.htm
http://www.fbi.gov/hq/isd/cirg/ncavc.htm
http://www.rcmp.ca/techops/viclas_e.htm
http://www.justicejunction.com/innocence_lost_ian_wing
_utap.htm
http://www.interpol.int/Public/ICPO/FactSheets/fsADN20
0501.asp
http://www.interpol.int/Public/ICPO/FactSheets/i247.asp
http://www.europol.eu.int/index.asp?page=facts