Criminals are increasingly taking advantage of the Internet and computers to perpetrate more sophisticated crimes. Now, the New Haven Police Department has an equally sophisticated computer-based response.

The department was finding that the process of booking criminals, building lineups of suspects and keeping mugbooks up to date was becoming increasingly labor-intensive. But since seconds can make the difference between capturing a criminal or not, the department began looking for ways to speed up all of the processes, while ensuring that pertinent crime data was easy to archive and access.

It decided to implement ImageWare’s Crime Capture System and has since streamlined the booking process, while speeding the process of building non-subjective lineups and mugshot books.

Imageware’s Crime Capture System, developed specifically for law enforcement, consists of a server-based image database and two front-end PC-based clients, a Booking/Capture station and an Investigative Station.

At the Booking/Capture station, officers enter the arrestee’s pertinent information and demographics using customizable pull-down menus and free text fields. That information is then linked with the criminal’s mugshot and other pertinent images, such as tattoos, which the officers scan into the system at the same time.

Once a person has been entered into the system, the image and data can be tagged for use in a variety of functions, such as creating a gang or sex offender database or creating wristbands with prisoner&singlequot;s photos and barcodes.

At the Investigative Station, officers can perform keyword searches of the database, build photo line-ups and mugbooks, or print, export and scan images. The photo line-up function generates a group of six or more photos, letting the user select or reject from the images retrieved, and then it builds a randomly ordered electronic lineup.

This feature makes for more neutral lineups, said Joann Peterson, a lieutenant in the department. It also makes it easier for witnesses to go through ‘mugbooks,’ since the images can be assembled quickly and viewed immediately on the computer screen.

Detectives can also scan or import photos such as crime scenes, weapons, vehicles, residences and so on into the system and link them with the booking records.

 The upshot is that the department now has more time to investigate and deter crime.

"ImageWare&singlequot;s CCS really streamlines the booking and investigative processes, allowing our officers to proactively serve our community and further prevent crime and resolve problems,” Peterson said.

It also lets New Haven’s finest more easily share crime and suspect information with officers in other departments, since the system can be easily accessed by authorized personnel via the Internet and even wireless devices.