New equipment added to Du Quoin Police cars

DU QUOIN - The Du Quoin Police Department took a bold step forward this week with the acquisition of new computer and camera equipment for officers and their squad cars.

Chief Les Vancil explained that two grants - one from the Illinois Department of Transportation and one from the Illinois Law Enforcement and Training Standard Board totaling $80,000 - paid for the new equipment that will be used in all six squad cars. There was no cost to the city.

"It's a great benefit to our department," Vancil said. "Each car will get a mobile data computer and each one will get a camera," he said. "All officers will also now have body cameras. The cameras not only hold the officers accountable, but the public for its actions. The cameras have already become valuable in some cases. They are great evidence. And they help keep the public and our officers safe."

The laptop computers allow law enforcement officials to store and retrieve vast amounts of data.

The itstillworks.com website reports that data can include details of incident reports, criminal descriptions, fingerprints and other identifying marks. It can also include descriptions and registrations of vehicles involved in criminal activity. Another crucial pool of information, according to the website, is DNA data taken from suspects. DNA databases allow samples of DNA taken from suspects to be matched with samples taken from crime scenes.

Computers are an invaluable tool for communication between individuals, departments and law enforcement agencies. Documents, photographs and other material can be sent almost instantaneously from one location to another, saving valuable time. Email is a good example: Encrypted emails can be used to send important data securely while mitigating the risk that the information they contain will fall into the wrong hands.

Law enforcement agencies must also use the Internet when tackling online crime. This can include the sharing of illegal material, such as pirated commercial movies or music. "Phishing" and other forms of identity theft that use email or the Internet must also be addressed using computer technology, as must attacks using viruses and hacking attacks. Law enforcements from different countries must often work together to tackle cyber crime.