New York Police Department Looks To The Internet For Answers

It is better to try to keep a bad thing from happening than to fix the bad thing once it has happened. The New York Police Department is on a quest to figure out ways to identify potential “deranged” gunmen on the Internet, in an effort to avoid hapless events, such as the tragic Connecticut school shooting, where in 26 people were killed, mostly children. (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: NimbleTV Hopes To Deliver Cable TV Content Across All Devices, Facebook Poke Sends Self-Destructive Pokes To Your Friends On iPhone,

Australian Police Warns the Public Not to Use iOS 6 Maps

It’s been official for a while now: iOS 6 Maps suck. Everyone from Tim Cook to my mother knows it, but now it’s getting scary. Victoria Police are advising people not to use iOS 6 Maps due to safety concerns. What are those safety concerns? Oh nothing, really, just people stranded deep inside a remote national park. More »

These Patents Show A Seriously Shocking Future for Handcuffs

If you thought plasticuffs were the future of restraints, well, you might still be right. But handcuff technology is also preparing to fork in a much more high-tech direction. According to some recent patents, the future of handcuffs may be shocking. Literally. Shocking you. With electricity. More »

The NYPD Is Amassing a Huge Log of Call Records From Stolen Phones

If you get your cell phone stolen in NYC, the police will help you find it. Great. But not so great? They’re going to subpoena all your call records from the day it was swiped onward and add them to a searchable database. More »

NEC shows 2014-era portable DNA analyzer that could outpace your favorite crime drama

NEC shows 2014era portable DNA analyzer that finishes faster than most crime dramas

NEC gave us promises of truly on-the-spot forensics when it unveiled its first portable DNA analyzer back in 2007, although the reality hasn’t been quite in line with the dream: its current system takes an hour to get a result and won’t win any awards for sleekness. From what we’re seeing of a next-generation analyzer due in 2014, those expectations are more likely to be met. The new version puts the full DNA extraction, amplification and separation processes on a newer chip that meets NEC’s original goal of producing output in 25 minutes — faster than a short cop drama, if you include the commercial breaks. Few beyond the police will be casually tossing the analyzer around given its 70.5-pound weight and $120,000 price, but a much slicker design at least gives it the profile of a small, rolling suitcase. The upgrade could be vital for identifying suspects and victims in record time; if our only worry is that NEC takes all the mystery out of our favorite TV shows, we’ll be more than satisfied.

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Via: PCWorld

Source: NEC (PDF)

The Police Raided a 9-Year-Old to Confiscate Her Winnie the Pooh Laptop

It was just another typical weekday morning in a normal Finnish family home. It was only 8am, and parents and children were going through their usual routine. Then there was a knock at the door: it was the police, come to seize the Winnie the Pooh laptop of the resident 9-year-old pirate. More »

Woman Arrested for Posting an Undercover Cop’s Photo on Facebook [Facebook]

Melissa Walthall of Mesquite, Texas and her buddy George Pickens have both been charged with the egregious crime of “retaliation” after a Walthall posted the photo of an undercover police officer on Facebook. Not smart! More »

Connected To The Case to use Facebook for crowd-sourced crime solving

Connected To The Case to use Facebook for crowd-sourced crime solving

Ready the spandex and decide on a name for your alter ego, because come October 16th, you’ll have the chance to fight crime from the comfort of your computer. On that date, the “Connected To The Case” website goes live with the aim of crowd-sourcing tips from its users to help the cops solve active investigations. You’ll use your Facebook login for access, as the service pulls data from your profile to prioritize cases with which you might have a connection. Morgan Wright, CEO and Chief Crime Fighter of Crowd Sourced Investigations, told us its system looks at five key areas when digging for pertinent triggers: “date, location, time, relation and demographics.” It then uses that data to tailor notifications of unsolved crimes based on — for example — proximity to your school, or where you used to work. Rest assured that you control the privacy settings, and if you’ve got useful info to share, you can do so anonymously.

Law enforcement agencies can register to include their cases from today, with the initial roll-out targeting the US. The plan is to expand first to other English-speaking countries, with foreign language support in the future to build a global network of internet do-gooders. Including data from other social networks is also in the pipeline, starting with Twitter and later, Foursquare and Pinterest. A smartphone app is also on the agenda, so get your detective devices ready — we can be heroes, if just for one click.

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Connected To The Case to use Facebook for crowd-sourced crime solving originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Oct 2012 20:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Former Olympus executives plead guilty in accounting fraud trial

Former Olympus executives plead guilty in accounting fraud trial

Three executives from troubled imaging giant Olympus have pleaded guilty to artificially boosting the company’s true value in 2007 and 2008 by concealing losses in financial statements. Former chairman Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, ex-auditor Hideo Yamada and former VP Hisashi Mori were charged with fraud in the scandal, which was brought to light last year by ex-CEO Michael Woodford. He was fired by the Olympus board for blowing the whistle, but reportedly received a large settlement for his troubles. The company has since confessed to cooking the books as far back as the ’90s to hide investment losses, and revealed in 2011 that it had a billion dollars less in value than previously stated. That, along with the poor performance of its camera division, has forced Olympus to seek a partner or raise capital to survive.

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Former Olympus executives plead guilty in accounting fraud trial originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Sep 2012 01:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s Officially Safe to Taser Shiftless Teens Now [Weapons]

Dear police: Feel free to tase children at will. According to a new study reviewing 100 cases in which tasers were used to subdue adolescent suspects, doctors found that the kids were just fine afterwards. Hurray for brutality! More »