The Associated Press
BRATTLEBORO, Vermont (AP) -- The police department has won the leadership in technology award for small departments from the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
Police Chief John Martin said the department won the award for integrating technology into law enforcement.
“Because the competition was so fierce, it’s really a feather in our cap to be selected,” he said.
Hundreds of departments across the globe applied for the technology awards. The awards were split into three categories, depending on size.
The new technology plays an increasingly bigger role in criminal investigations, including the use of images from crime-scene videos to help identify suspects.
“We had a series of burglaries into gas stations and stores where the equipment has really been a help,” he said.
With images from store cameras, police are now able to refine and enhance and clean images in order to get a clear picture of perpetrators, Martin said.
Martin said his department now used a bar code tracking system for all evidence and equipment, which allowed officers to track down items. When a piece of equipment or evidence is scanned in or out of the department, it is then logged into a database with all of the applicable information to track it down.
Digital surveillance cameras were also installed at the new Brattleboro Transportation Center, Martin said. The digital feeds from the center have been integrated into police computers, allowing them to be monitored from a central hub, he said.
Next month, Martin and Detective Erik Johnson will travel to Sacramento to accept the award at the IACP 2004 Law Enforcement Information Management Conference, which will be attended by more than 300 agencies.