UA’s CRDL Co-Sponsors Criminal Justice Technology Symposium

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Experts from The University of Alabama’s CARE Research & Development Laboratory (CRDL) will be among the speakers at the ninth annual Criminal Justice Technology Symposium at The Hotel at Auburn University and Dixon Conference Center Dec. 3-5. The conference will focus on the latest technological innovations in law enforcement and criminal justice.

Topics at the symposium will include recent developments in corrections inmate management systems, red light camera traffic enforcement, accident reconstruction, the victim notification program (VINE), and the benefits of less-lethal weapons.

Dr. Allen Parrish, UA professor of computer science and director of the CARE Research & Development Laboratory (CRDL), will lead a discussion on eCitation Officer Dashboard, a secure web portal containing various eCitation statistics for law enforcement officers and agencies. Parrish also will present information on how to use geospatial information to support police officer deployment to ensure that law enforcement agencies are adequately patrolling locations that need attention.

Dr. Dan Turner, UA professor of civil and environmental engineering and director of the University Transportation Center for Alabama, will discuss how red light camera traffic enforcement affects law officers. Kerri Keith, assistant research engineer of the CRDL, will introduce developments in eCrash, an electronic crash form that will integrate with eCitation software.

Paul Wormeli, executive director of Integrated Justice Information Systems Institute, will be the featured speaker at the event. Wormeli has been an advisor to the White House on security and privacy, and has founded three companies in the law enforcement information systems field. Software developed by his companies has been used by hundreds of agencies throughout the nation.

The symposium is co-sponsored by UA’s CRDL, the Alabama Administrative Office of Courts, Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center, Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs, 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.