ROBOCOP? LAW ENFORCEMENT APPROACHES HIGH TECH WITH CAUTION

For the most part, James Bond's "Q" would be bored in Cape Girardeau.

Although law enforcement technology of spy movie quality is available, area police agencies look at it very selectively.

Devices that track the sound of a bullet to its origin or compute a person's criminal history in a squad car are on the market for a price. But police departments like Cape Girardeau's have to weight the costs and benefits of any added technology, Sgt. Carl Kinnison said.

"If we were able to do a fingerprint identity check from a patrol car, it would have great benefits," he said. "But if we're only using it to take fingerprints, it's a very expensive way of doing it."

Police Chief Rick Hetzel approaches high-tech with caution. The results are not always positive, he said.

Electronic mail can make an office overly dependent on computers at the expense of more personal interaction. Hetzel has seen this with himself and within the police department.

But he isn't a luddite.

"All technology becomes cheaper and smaller over time," Hetzel said. "We're unlikely to purchase anything without testing it first."

An officer traveled earlier this month to test a Taser gun that fires two small electrodes that can incapacitate an attacker, he said.

Not long ago the Cape Girardeau Sheriff's Department purchased a "bean bag shotgun."

The sheriff is in the initial stages of forming a tactical response team, so the gun was purchased, Capt. Ruth Ann Dickerson said. It offers deputies an alternative use of force, which can be used when transporting aggressive mental patients and others, she said.

Weapons that exert less-than-lethal force have great potential, Hetzel said.

A project that police have keen interest in is photographs from intersections. This would catch drivers running red lights, speeding and committing other violations on film, Hetzel said.

In order to implement this, legislation at the state level would have to define responsibility. The car's driver could be different from its owner, so the owner could be made accountable for violations, Hetzel said.

The most advanced police technology is reserved for federal agencies.

But if local law enforcement needs something, the state Highway Patrol or a federal agency can usually accommodate them, said Lt. David James of the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's office.

A program run through the state's Department of Public Safety allows loans of high-tech equipment to law enforcement agencies statewide. It mostly involves surveillance equipment that police could not purchase on their own, said Sgt. David Martin, a technician with the Highway Patrol's drug and crime unit in Jefferson City.

One recently acquired device will stabilize a video recording shot during a bumpy car chase. It can go through the video, frame by frame, and produce clear images in the laboratory, Martin said. It costs $80,000.

The U.S. Army will give away certain technical devices to the patrol, Martin said, if they will be used in narcotics detection. This is how density measuring equipment was received, he said. It can be used to check if drugs are hidden in a car's bumper or seats, he said.

James has already looked into the possibility of acquiring ground penetrating radar from a federal agency.

The radar shows images of soil layers, and has commonly been used by soil conservation specialists. Police can use it to see if the ground in an area has ever been disturbed by digging, possibly to bury a body.

Radar surveys can be done either from an aircraft to cover much territory quickly or through a hand-held device that resembles a big metal detector, James said.

If investigators suspect that a body has been buried at a particular location, probes can be put underground to try to detect human body gases, such as methane, given off during decomposition.

James has never used these technologies, but he has some cases in mind where they might be applied.

For following a suspect from place to place, there are beepers and even satellite tracking with Global Positioning System technology.

The beepers are relatively simple devices which give off a signal that can be traced. As the beeper is approached with a detection device, the beeper signal becomes stronger.

The GPS, operated by the U.S. Department of Defense and used worldwide, has often been associated with spies and taking photographs of criminals by satellites. It is a satellite navigation system, used widely in commerce by trucking companies to follow their over-the-road drivers.

James has used GPS, sort of.

Some suspects have been told that satellite pictures from digital imaging are available showing them committing a criminal act, even though James didn't have a photo in hand.

"But the threat works," he said.