Crafty Crooks Get a 'Cheap' Blu-ray Player
Posts with tag cops
UK Cops to Wield Mobile Fingerprint Scanners
Dubbed Project Midas, this here setup is supposed to "transform the speed of criminal investigations"while simultaneously freaking out anyone remotely concerned about personal privacy; in fairness, cops insist that fingerprints scanned via these portable devices will not be stored or added to databases, and we're told that they'll only be used " when they suspect an individual of an offense and can't establish his / her identity."
The £30 million ($47.5 million) to £40 million ($63.4 million) initial phase should hit widespread deployment within 18 months, and in case you thought it was over after this, you should probably know that facial recognition in the field is the next top priority.
[Via Pocket-lint, image courtesy of SpringCard]
Free iPhone App Prevents Speeding Tickets
Here's yet another great idea for an iPhone app. Trapster, from a company by the same name, enables iPhone owners to avoid one of life's many perils: the speeding ticket. In theory, at least.
The free app follows a driver's location as a dot on a map. If said driver passes a police officer lurking by the side of the road with a radar gun, they can tap the iPhone to mark the location as a speed trap point. That data point is then sent to a server; other drivers using Trapster will then be alerted of that speed trap when they approach this point on the map.
Of course, like any social networking application, Trapster relies on people actually using it to be effective. Come on people, take one for the team. It's free, and speeding tickets are not. [From: Wired]
Stealthy Carbon Fiber Stiletto Boat Reaches 60 Knots
[Thanks, Laz]
Trapster: Get Warnings About Speed Traps on Your Cell Phone
Trapster is about speed traps. Trapster lets drivers report the location of speed traps, red light cameras, and other locations where you're likely to get a ticket.
The service can use Wi-Fi or GPS to find your location and sends you audio alerts when you're approaching a ticket threat. Users report the locations of traps and are rated on their reliability. The system gives greater weight to those that are rated more reliably. Users can also customize the alerts they want, so that they only receive notice of red light cameras or the like. Information about red light cameras stays in Trapster's database indefinitely, but speed trap data is only kept for an hour, with the expectation that the officers will move on to a new location.
Trapster will work with many different mobile platforms, including Nokia's Symbian based handsets, Windows Mobile, and Blackberries. The service is available now, though the site was down when we tried to visit it.
From Comcast News
Related links:
Officer Suspended After Encounter with 'Punk Kid' Posted on YouTube
YouTube is quickly becoming the bane of over-reactive adults everywhere. Web-savvy kids are catching their elders freaking out on video and posting it on video sharing sites like YouTube. The general result: teachers, cops, and other adults are made to look like jerks.
The latest casualty is an officer from Baltimore, Maryland, Salvatore Rivieri. Officer Rivieri had a rather hostile encounter with couple of teens over the summer that started because the teens were skateboarding in a restricted area. The video shows officer Rivieri storming up to the teens, taking one in a head lock and pushing him to the ground twice.
After exclaiming "dude!" when pushed the floor the officer really exploded, "I'm not 'man'. I'm not 'dude'. I am officer Rivieri. Now the sooner you learn that, the longer you'll live in this world."
While the teen obviously does need to learn how to address his elders, he is also 14 years old and doesn't seem to be purposely disrespecting the officer. Rivieri on the other hand is a grown man who some people believe crossed a line. Not only was his verbally abusive outburst uncalled for, but there is simply no excuse for man handling a child like that, especially since (as the officer so eloquently points out) he's not the child's father.
Officer Rivieri has been suspended to administrative work with pay pending an Internal Affairs investigation.
From ValleyWag
Related links:
