"Sherlock Online".

• Author: DOUGLAS, JENNIFER RITTER
• Position: Federal Bureau of Investigation launches its new crminal identification database - Brief Article

Swope, Christopher

Governing, September 2000, pp. 80-84

After a decade of development, the Federal Bureau of Investigation finally has its National Crime Information Center (NCIC) 2000 database up and running, but it's not going to be cheap for state and local governments to use the criminal identification system. NCIC 2000 is the FBI's new-and-improved national crime database. The old system left cops with a lot of guesswork about whom they were facing, and unwitting drivers were sometimes hauled in to get positive identification. With NCIC 2000, this will all be done from the police officer's cruiser, giving the trooper a better idea of whom he is dealing with, and whether the person is dangerous. But state and local police organizations will have to spend millions to update their computer networks before they can access the system. Each state must upgrade its own communications link between a...