Beryl A. Howell is Executive Managing Director and General Counsel of Stroz Friedberg, a national consulting and technical services firm that specialize in digital forensics, electronic discovery, cyber-security and data breach investigations, at the cutting edge of law, technology and policy. In 2006, Ms. Howell received an FBI Director’s Award for her “valuable contributions” to the successful investigation and prosecution of a defendant convicted of cyber-extortion against one of her firm’s clients.
A new online system that allows Tulsa police to track pawnshop transactions will be good news for burglary victims and bad news for burglars, says the Oklahoma city’s World. The Business Watch International regional system is expected to be in operation by June 30, linking the Tulsa Police Department to area pawnshops, a police spokesman said. The system could increase by 300 percent the amount of stolen property that is recovered from pawnshops, he said.
The $17,000 system will provide real-time access to pawnshop transactions. Oklahoma law requires pawnshops to make available to law enforcement agencies detailed records of every purchase or pawn transaction. The new real-time system replaces old protocols that included many shops mailing handwritten slips to the Police Department.
When the National Academy of Sciences released a comprehensive report on February 18 laying out serious shortcomings in forensic science, the nation’s preeminent scientific organization also presented a road map for reform.
The NAS report shows that many forensic techniques which are relied on in courtrooms every day lack adequate scientific support. While DNA testing was developed through extensive scientific research at top academic centers, many other forensic techniques – such as hair microscopy, bite mark comparisons, fingerprint analysis, firearms, tool marks and shoe print analysis – have never been subjected to rigorous scientific evaluation.
After the release of NAS’s report on the future of forensics, we continue forensics week by listening to some of the top experts in the field discuss their thoughts.
Everyone expects the National Academy of Sciences’ report on the state of the forensic sciences to mark a watershed in criminal justice, but since the report itself has not been released, the front page preview of the report in the New York Times relied on accounts from various sources that had seen early drafts.
This month, The New York Times ran a front page article on the highly anticipated National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report on forensics based on sources who had seen the draft version. Read the article here .
