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Showing posts with label technologysolvingcrime. Show all posts
Showing posts with label technologysolvingcrime. Show all posts
"iPad Video Chat Catches Massachusetts Murder"

"iPad Video Chat Catches Massachusetts Murder"

I suppose that 20 years ago if the daughter and her boyfriend were on the telephone, the same thing would have happened, though the fact that the boyfriend actually saw some of the event makes the evidence even stronger.  From ABC News:

A Massachusetts man accused of stabbing his girlfriend to death as their daughter's friend watched via an iPad video chat is being held in jail without bond today.
Christopher Piantedosi, 39, allegedly showed up at the Burlington, Mass., home of his longtime girlfriend Kristen Pulisciano's on Thursday and got into a raging argument with her in the kitchen.
The couple's 15-year-old daughter was in her bedroom video chatting with a friend on her iPad. She heard the commotion and went to check on her parents, according to authorities.
The girl found her father holding a knife and her mother fled to the girl's bedroom, shutting the door behind her.
"The defendant then kicked in the door, threw the victim on the bed and began stabbing her with a butcher knife and it was visible to the daughter's friend," Middlesex assistant district attorney Nicole Allain said in court.
The daughter's male friend witnessed the attack on video. . . .
Something to think about including if you want to explain the changes in the number of robberies over time

Something to think about including if you want to explain the changes in the number of robberies over time

Using electronic payments won't only reduce bank robberies, it should also reduce street robberies. But as this article points out, you will see more cybercrime (so-called substitution effects). It isn't just for underground economies that people like cash. They also like it sometimes to protect their privacy. From CBS News:

The Swedish Bankers' Association says the shrinkage of the cash economy is already making an impact in crime statistics.

The number of bank robberies in Sweden plunged from 110 in 2008 to 16 in 2011 — the lowest level since it started keeping records 30 years ago. It says robberies of security transports are also down.

"Less cash in circulation makes things safer, both for the staff that handle cash, but also of course for the public," says Par Karlsson, a security expert at the organization.

The prevalence of electronic transactions — and the digital trail they generate — also helps explain why Sweden has less of a problem with graft than countries with a stronger cash culture, such as Italy or Greece, says economics professor Friedrich Schneider of the Johannes Kepler University in Austria.

"If people use more cards, they are less involved in shadow economy activities," says Schneider, an expert on underground economies.

In Italy — where cash has been a common means of avoiding value-added tax and hiding profits from the taxman — Prime Minister Mario Monti in December put forward measures to limit cash transactions to payments under euro1,000 ($1,300), down from euro2,500 before.

The flip side is the risk of cybercrimes. According to the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention the number of computerized fraud cases, including skimming, surged to nearly 20,000 in 2011 from 3,304 in 2000.

Oscar Swartz, the founder of Sweden's first Internet provider, Banhof, says a digital economy also raises privacy issues because of the electronic trail of transactions. He supports the idea of phasing out cash, but says other anonymous payment methods need to be introduced instead.

"One should be able to send money and donate money to different organizations without being traced every time," he says. . . . .
Facebook helps solve another crime

Facebook helps solve another crime

From Fox NYC:

New York City detectives have used cutting-edge facial recognition software to capture a man suspected in a shooting at a barbershop.
The bullet grazed the 39-year-old man's head. He required stitches, but will survive.
Police say the man was beaten and shot on March 10 over a neighborhood dispute as he tried to get a haircut.
The victim knew the shooter but not his name, pulled up a Facebook photo and gave it to police. Authorities at the Real Time Crime Center fed the photo through the system and a match appeared: The suspect's prior mug shot. . . .
Authorities arrested the 37-year-old suspect about a day later . . . .


Thanks to Jeff Yager for the link.
Gun shot detectors coming to an American city near you

Gun shot detectors coming to an American city near you

If this really works as advertised, why do we need gun control when we can quickly catch the bad guys who use guns to do bad things? From Fox News:

Gunshots ring out in the dead of night, and not a single person reports it. Yet police know exactly where the shots came from, even before they arrive on the scene.
It sounds like a scene from The Minority Report, but it's real. A new technology called ShotSpotter enables law enforcement officials to precisely and instantaneously locate shooters, and it has been quietly rolling out across America. From Long Island, N.Y., to San Francisco, Calif., more than 60 cities in the U.S. have been leveraging ShotSpotter to make their streets safer. . . .
“If You Fire a Gun, We Will Find You.”
ShotSpotter relies on wide-area acoustic surveillance and GPS technology to triangulate the source of gunshots. Sensors are fixed to buildings and poles to provide coverage over a fixed area. With audio-analysis software, it can identify whether a shooter is stationary or moving -- meaning police officers can be equipped with information on the speed and direction of, say, a vehicle from which a shot was fired.
It can also “hear” the acoustic signature and distinguish between calibers and types of firearms. Similarly, it can hear different explosions and classify them, from vehicle backfires to fireworks to bombs.
The ShotSpotter Gunfire Alert system then relays the location and data to the police or a dispatch computer within moments, enabling a more rapid response time for both police and first responders.
The best part: ShotSpotter works. It's accurate to 10 to 15 feet, and some police departments are reporting accuracy to within five feet. In Long Island’s Nassau County, gun violence was reduced by a whopping 90 percent at the close of this year’s first quarter. . . .
The subscription-based implementation called ShotSpotter Flex costs as much as $60,000 per square mile. . . .
iPhone solves robbery

iPhone solves robbery

From the LA Times:

A parolee has been charged with robbery after LAPD officers investigating an armed holdup used the iPhone “Find My Phone” application to locate the suspect, who was still carrying the stolen device.

Wilshire division officers responded to a call of an armed robbery Thursday in the vicinity of Sierra Bonita and Rosewood avenues.

The victim told officers that a man had robbed her at gunpoint and ran off with her purse, which contained her Apple iPhone.

Luckily for her, the Find My Phone tracking application was installed, and a local citizen let officers use his computer to track the cellphone to the vicinity of 11th Street and Ardmore Avenue.

A short time later, the officers saw a man in that area who matched the suspect's description and detained him. Officers dialed the woman’s cell number and recovered the phone from the suspect's pocket.

Jason Topper, 34, of Chatsworth, was arrested on suspicion of robbery. . . .

The purse also was recovered. . . .
Possibly iPhone 4s's are going to be very popular gifts to give to spouses this Christmas

Possibly iPhone 4s's are going to be very popular gifts to give to spouses this Christmas

9TO5Mac has this story:

I got my wife a new 4s and loaded up find my friends without her knowing. She told me she was at her friends house in the east village. I’ve had suspicions about her meeting this guy who lives uptown. Lo and behold, Find my Friends has her right there. I just texted her asking where she was and the dumb b!otch said she was on 10th Street!! Thank you Apple, thank you App Store, thank you all. These beautiful treasure trove of screen shots going to play well when I meet her a$$ at the lawyer’s office in a few weeks. . . .
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