NIST Grants as a Tool to Afford IT Equipment and Software

Many police departments and other law enforcement agencies have been feeling the pinch of the economic crisis of the last two years. Federal, State and local budgets are shrinking, and law enforcement agencies have had to make due with less. As budgets shrink, these agencies start having to make hard decisions about what are necessary expenditures to ensure public safety and what are expenditures that must wait for better times. Unfortunately, the purchase of new and updated IT equipment, hardware and software falls under the "wait for better times" expenditures. As criminals and their activity become more and more sophisticated and high tech, however, this belief systems begins to threaten public safety in and of itself.

There are Federal and State programs out there, however, that provide much needed funds to police departments and governmental agencies to purchase this type of much needed equipment and to assist in other research that a law enforcement agency might consider undertaking. One such program is the Grant Program through the Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology.

This program, administered through the grants.gov program, is seeking applications for grants for FY2010, which ends on June 30, 2010 (except for Fire Research Grant, which expired earlier this year). The categories of grants that government agencies are eligible for include the following:

(1) Electronics and Electrical Engineering Laboratory (EEEL);

(2) the Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory (MEL);

(3) the Chemical Science and Technology Laboratory (CSTL);

(4) the Physics Laboratory;

(5) the Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory (MSEL);

(6) the Building Research Grants and Cooperative Agreements Program;

(7) the Fire Research Program;

(8) the Information Technology Laboratory (ITL) Program;

(9) the NIST Center for Neutron Research (NCNR);

(10) Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (CNST); and

(11) Technology Services (TS).

It appears that governmental agencies seeking to employ the latest software and hardware to augment its capabilities should review the Technology Services portion of the program which provides grants for "software/hardware needed to collect data of inspection records/results." Applications should be received by NIST prior to June 1, 2010 to ensure that the application is considered for the FY2010 program.

For assistance or further information on applying for the NIST grants pursuant to the grants.gov program, contact us at http://huntersystemsgroup.com/.

Mug shot / Photo Identification Application

Greetings and welcome to our first blog post.

Traditionally, mugshots of arrested individuals taken via the criminal booking process have inconsistencies which differ from booking officer to booking officer, and suspect to suspect. These inconsistencies can cause significant issues which can limit an agencies ability to provide valid photo arrays for witness identification. These issues can ultimately lead to the inadmissibility of evidence at trial and subsequently, guilty offenders could be set free. Hunter Systems Mugshot Capture Application seeks to eliminate these inconsistencies by standardizing the mugshot capture process.

Through a series of complex computations and algorithms, developed through a partnership with Quantum Signal, LLC of Ann Arbor, Michigan, the Mugshot Capture Application locates a subject's head and shoulders through a standard video feed, and correctly aligns the image to create the "perfect mugshot". In addition, the mugshot image is validated to ensure compliance with National Institue of Standards and Technology (NIST) best practices, including lighting, background, exposure, aspect ratio and compression algorithm.

Once the image has been captured, validated and stored in JPEG format, it is available to be imported into the users' Records Management System.

By ensuring that the NIST standards are adhered to, agencies utilizing the Hunter Mugshot ID application will also be in compliance with Federal Bureau of Investigation and Automated Fingerprint Information System guidelines. Thus increasing the overall effectiveness of a Nationwide database of criminal offenders.

Mark

http://www.huntersystemsgroup.com/