New high-tech tools aid police.

In the ongoing cat-and-mouse chase between criminals and police, the cops are being given some high-tech tools that might alter the balance in their favor. The gadgets rely on innovative chemistry and post-Cold War technology transfer from the military to the civilian sector.

A device called "Night Enforcer" greatly amplifies the slightest bit of light, thereby allowing police to turn night into virtual daylight conditions. Made by a Virginia-based company, ITT Night Vision, it is being used by more than 40 law enforcement agencies across the country. "A majority of crime is conducted under the cloak of darkness," points out Elaine F. Tuttle, vice president of ITT Night Vision. "What night vision does for the law enforcement officer is remove that advantage from the criminal."

The heart of the Night Enforcer consists of three main components: an image intensifier photo-cathode tube, a microchannel plate, and a phosphor screen. "The night scopes amplify light, such as moonlight or starlight, 30,000 times using a technique called photomultiplication," explains Chip Hambro, an ITT Night Vision engineer and physicist.

Another technology available to local police departments is a portable, handheld, single-step fingerprinting device. The "magic wand" uses a small propane torch and superglue to produce visual fingerprints in seconds.

The old fingerprinting approach required transporting a large nonporous or smooth surface (e.g., a wall piece or a...