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Law Enforcement Technology

The Sheriff’s Office along with Dutchess County 911 has upgraded the Computer Aided Dispatch System with New World Systems Computer Microsoft Server Platform.  The Sheriff’s Office has now also utilized New World Systems Records software replacing a county mainframe law enforcement records system that had been used since the early 1990’s.

The mobile data terminals utilized in the Sheriff’s Deputies Patrol Vehicles have received upgraded software as well.  New World Systems Field Reporting software was added along with an upgrade to the mobile dispatching software.  Deputies will now be able to fully complete reports in their vehicles, without returning to a Station computer, as done in the past.  Also now incorporated into the patrol vehicles is the TrACSsystem.  

TrACS, which is the acronym for Traffic And Criminal Software, allows deputies to input their uniform traffic ticket information into the MDT and print legible tickets.  The information is forwarded to the Department of Motor Vehicle and then in turn to the appropriate courts in days, instead of weeks.  The deputies also do their accident reports in TrACS as well. 

The License Plate Recognition System (LPR) is a piece of technology that has revolutionized the way police find stolen vehicles and vehicles that have suspended or revoked registration.  The LPR incorporates four computers and two infrared cameras and reads license plates at a rate of over 500 an hour.

Another new system that has been adopted into the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office and which the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office is leading other area agencies is Live Scan.  

Live Scan is the digital fingerprint and photo submission system.  Live Scan is directly linked to the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigations.  Upon completion of the booking process the fingerprints are sent to DCJS and the FBI.  Upon checking of both systems, a report of the results is sent back to the sender.  In the first month of usage, the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office did have a subject return with Al Qaeda/Terrorist association. 

In 2007, the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office planned to add four Live Scanmachines to substations throughout Dutchess County.