Re: Speeding in NY State (no Audi content)

[Brett Dikeman <brett@pdikeman.ne.mediaone.net>]

>I have heard that scanners are somewhat effective but I am not sure how
>much they help. And I thought that they are illegal.

I doubt any police department(definately not a state police dept.) uses
unprotected/insecure communications.  Very sensitive information is
transmitted over those channels, the most common being personal information
about citizens.  I'm not sure how they do it, whether it's just a really
funky signal, a restricted frequency band(ie, no recievers sold that have
that band) or it's scrambled, or what.  I'm sure someone wrote a book about
it or there's an internet site about it :)

All hell broke loose a little while ago when someone found out that the
"encryption" used by a Motorola data-terminal system for police was a
simple rotation of ASCII values(almost rot13, not quite as bad) making it
_unbelievably_ easy to view _everything_ being sent+recieved from cruisers;
all it took to recieve the raw data was a slightly modified HAM rig.  Some
guy figured it out in less than a couple days of undetermined work :)

A state university(texas I think?  Maybe michigan.) is working on a new
"supercruiser"(maybe "smartcruiser" is a better term) that does everything
from picking out license plate numbers in live video images picked up while
driving around on patrol(info only used to match against violations
database; nothing is recorded) to making life generally easier(like a
button labeled "PURSUIT" that reports back that the officer is engaging in
pursuit, turns on lights, etc. etc.)  It's also going to incorporate
video/picture transmission, which apparently is already in use.  A good
example of this was a victim needed to identify a suspect, but they were on
opposite ends of town.  The one cop snapped a picture and zapped it
immediately to the other car where the victim was being interviewed; the
victim identified the guy.  I believe this was being done with a handheld
PDA system that also allowed for paperless tickets+stuff, making life
easier for the police department and the registry.

The car looked cool, and an excellent use of some of the neatest
computer/electronics technology, but it also looked very bloated with
poorly integrated outside sensors(there was tons of little boxes+stuff on
top of the lights.)  Didn't look very tough, either.  I'm sure they'll make
strides with it and come out with something much better in a couple years;
it being publically developed will mean it may be more accessable to police
departments as opposed to a commercially developed system.  Cool stuff.


Brett

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Brett Dikeman
brett@pdikeman.ne.mediaone.net
~)-|
Hostes alienigeni me abduxerunt.  Qui annus est?
Te audire non possum.  Musa sapientum fixa est in aure.
Ita, scio hunc 'sig file' veterem fieri.
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