FC: Local cops in Pennsylvania get "JNet" police photo database

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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From: "Danny Yavuzkurt" <ayavuzk () fas harvard edu>
To: <declan () well com>
Subject: Local cops get access to state database
Date: Wed, 8 Jan 2003 16:42:05 -0500

Interesting article from my local newspaper, the Centre Daily Times, today,
about our county providing all local PDs with access to the Pennsylvania
Justice Network, which apparently (though I'd never heard of it before) has
all sorts of information about PA citizens in it, including driver's license
photos, place of residence, criminal history, etc.. one of the more
interesting tidbits from the article comes near the end, where they mention
that they can access the database to find people whose driver's license
photos resemble the description of suspects for a crime, who they can then
call in for questioning.. I wonder if this includes facial recognition
software?.. speculatively, they could get a person to give a police artist
info on who they think they saw, then compare the created image with the
database, and find matching faces.. otherwise, I'm kind of puzzled as to how
they could sort through 10 million faces fast enough to find suspects..

I guess this, like a lot of (limited) LE databases, is a double-edged
sword.. they find the suspects faster, get them off the street faster, solve
crimes faster, but can also find and use information about *anyone* faster..
of course, they do mention that there are 'repercussions' for anyone using
it for unauthorized purposes.. but still.. who watches the watchers?.. I'm
already skeptical about local PD chief Tom King's motives, he's been known
for supporting public surveillance cameras in downtown State College in the
past, and seems to have little concern for the public's privacy...

-Danny


http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/4899094.htm

Posted on Wed, Jan. 08, 2003



County offers formidable tool to help crimefighters
By Lara Brenckle
lbrenckl () centredaily com

BELLEFONTE - The Centre County Board of Commissioners agreed Tuesday to let
the county
oversee one of the most powerful crime fighting tools of the last decade.

In approving a memorandum of understanding, Centre County agreed to provide
local police departments with access to JNet. The program will be overseen
by the county's criminal justice planning office.

JNet is the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Justice Network, a secure
Internet-based system that puts an individual's criminal background,
driver's license photos and protection-from-abuse orders at an officer's
fingertip.

Officers can access information statewide from their desktops.

"What used to take days to request now takes minutes," Bruce Kline, a
representative from Penn State Police, told the commissioners.

Gene Lauri, the county's director of criminal justice planning, said most of
the information accessed through JNet has always been available, just never
this quickly.

[...]




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