UA’s CRDL Co-Sponsors Criminal Justice Technology Symposium

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The eighth annual Criminal Justice Technology Symposium will be held at The Hotel at Auburn University and Dixon Conference Center Dec. 6-8. Criminal justice personnel throughout Alabama will attend the conference to see the latest innovations in technology related to law enforcement.

Topics at the symposium will include homeland security, computer forensics and cyber crimes, municipal outdoor wireless projects, and updates of statewide projects, such as the expansion of e-Citation. New virtual projects will be introduced at the symposium, including virtual swearing, which allows state troopers to electronically swear to tickets in front of court clerks.

Dr. Allen Parrish, UA professor of computer science and director of the CARE Research & Development Laboratory, is involved in the development of LETS 3, a law enforcement system that will be introduced at the symposium.

“The highlight this year will be the debut of LETS 3, an improved version of LETS, which is a Web-based search engine allowing law enforcement and criminal justice agencies to search millions of records to make necessary identifications,” said Parrish.

“The new LETS 3, which is sponsored by the Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center, will simultaneously search many more databases and deliver the information faster,” explained Parrish.

Frederick Nelson, the United Kingdom’s retired national coordinator of ports policing, will be the featured speaker at the event. Nelson is responsible for creating the UK’s “BorderGuard” system of assessing risk and targeting terror suspects before they attack. He will focus his lecture on integrating biometric and IT solutions to combat crime and terrorism.

The symposium is co-sponsored by UA’s CRDL, the Alabama Administrative Office of Courts, Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Alabama.

UA’s CARE Research & Development Laboratory, part of the computer science department, uses leading edge technologies to offer products and specialized software development services in a variety of areas, particularly traffic safety and law enforcement.

The laboratory has designed an electronic citation system for use by law enforcement officers in the state of Alabama. The system was piloted by troopers enforcing commercial truck regulations and is currently being deployed to the remaining state troopers. Additionally, the CARE Research & Development Laboratory routinely provides a variety of safety studies and planning documents, such as the Crash Facts Books and Highway Safety Plans.

In 1837, The University of Alabama became one of the first five universities in the nation to offer engineering classes. Today, UA’s fully accredited College of Engineering has about 1,900 students and nearly 100 faculty. In the last seven years, students in the College have been named USA Today All-USA College Academic Team members, Goldwater scholars, Hollings scholars and Portz scholars.