There are a few noteworthy technology initiatives that Mayor Bloomberg of NYC introduced at the beginning of the year that I failed to recognize earlier:
- Require manufacturers of guns to use a microstamping technology that allows officials to connect crime scenes with the actual gun used.
- Use the latest technology to catch more criminals and exonerate the innocent. This will be achieved through a change in New York State legislature to expand DNA testing to cover all convicted felons and some misdemeanors. Hopefully this year they will begin taking fingerprints from all those arrested.
- Create a standardized information system that allows state agencies to share mental health records with federal officials. This initiative is in response to the tragic incident at Virginia Tech.
- Create an information system database that holds information (partial and complete) about firearms evidence. This database will allow multiple individuals to share the same information and use it to solve multiple crimes.
- Use automated license plat reader technology in officers cars that are paroling NYC
- Put GPS systems in school buses to measure on time performance as well as have an up-to-date location on all buses in case of a city-wide emergency.
I agree with each of these initiatives and hope that Mayor Bloomberg will follow through with all of them. I will post updates on each initiative when I find out more information.
I think the most important initiatives are the ones that involve information systems that allow multiple people to share the same information. This is important not only within an organization (i.e. a police department), but across multiple departments. For example, allowing medical records to be shared with public officials is important in preventing crimes such as the one at Virginia Tech. Further, multiple locations of police departments should have access to the same information to link multiple crimes. Finally, these databases should be able to be accessed remotely (and possibly on the handheld devices I wrote about in an earlier posting).
We have access to so many information system capabilities and yet so many departments are stuck in their old ways...
2 comments:
I agree with almost everything you said but am partly confused as to your why you think medical records should be open. Open only to government officials across the board? When does our privacy become affected by this policy? If I want my medical affairs to be known only between my doctor and myself, do I have that right or is it for the greater good of society that I lose those rights?
Well you happen to be speaking to someone that doesn't really believe in privacy rights at all. I think the greater good of society supersedes any individual rights. But I know Im pretty much alone with only a few others in this standpoint.
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