[balug-talk] Good Letter in San Francisco Chronicle Today

[Robert B. Livingston]

Michael T. Halligan wrote:
> Robert B. Livingston wrote:
>> To all:
>>
>> The Letters Page of the San Francisco Chronicle had an excellent 
>> letter today by John F. Kohler of Daly City responding to a recent 
>> report that the SFPD relies on Windows 95:
>>
>>     Editor --
>>
>>     Sgt. John Lewis, of Park Station, (Letters, "Why do pols hate
>>     cops?,'' Oct. 1), mentions in his third paragraph, a truly sad state
>>     of affairs: "Do the people of San Francisco realize that we still
>>     use Windows 95 as our computer system?''
>>
>>     The cost of replacing that system with the later version Microsoft
>>     product would be prohibitive and pointless because Windows is
>>     well-known as virus ridden, worm infested and Trojan-horse 
>> vulnerable.
>>
>>     I'd gladly volunteer to help in an effort to introduce free, open
>>     source, secure software to the Police Department computers, such as
>>     Linux, FireFox, OpenOffice.org, and more to assist the officers.
>>
>> Hope it opens a few eyes, and inspires some more intelligent ideas.
>>
>> Sincerely,
>>
>> Robert B. Livingston
>> San Francisco
>> http://www.geocities.com/gruaudemais/confetti_page.html
>>
>> Linux, for example, has been around since its creation by Linus 
>> Torvalds in 1990, with improvements early and often.
>>
>>   
> Man what a horrible idea. Forcing open source upon unwitting 
> end-users? "This is broke, who do we get to fix it?" "The community"
> "What the hell is the community" "the people who support us" "Ask 
> them" "They said NO"

Who said anything about "forcing?"

My guess is that the police would be delighted to get any improved tools 
to enable them to do their jobs better.

What a shame that despite SFPD's  proximity to Silicon Valley and 
politicians niggling over bringing wi-fi to the city, a simple move to 
modernize police IT at all (maybe before the above letter), sits as a 
"quiet" issue.

I am familiar with the Southern Station which looks like a huge 
building, but in which the police operate out of cramped offices.  The 
computers I saw last year on a visit looked like hand-me-downs from 
Goodwill-- and it seems, and I suspect-- they have never been changed or 
upgraded. 

We know (at the very least) that Linux would give those old computers 
new lives.  Imagine new computers with Linux!  I'd put Linux against 
Windows at High Noon any day.

Part of the obvious problem at the Southern Station is that being in 
such an old building, it might be somewhat expensive to rewire their 
network-- but here in San Francisco we have many IT people needing 
work-- and would love to do something for the community.

*Linux, or not, there should be an investigation and auditing of the 
police department's IT capabilities and needs. What is the plan?  Is 
there a plan?*

Recently, I have been in contact with an investigator about a crime I 
witnessed on the street.  I happened to have my digital camera which I 
used while the victims and I were chasing the suspect. 

I was rather embarrassed that one of the lead investigators in the case 
was unable to receive my photos over e-mail. 

I burned copies to a CD, which he lost after the police gave it to an 
attorney. 

The investigator asked me to burn another copy.  I think it was 
embarrassing to him because he admitted to me that he "knew very little 
about computers" and that he did not know how to make a CD.  I made him 
a second copy.

Of course this is just an anecdote and it does not mean that other 
police would be as unskilled-- but again, my own experience from working 
at businesses where Windows on old computers were utilized is that 
people throw up their hands in despair over un-defragmented and 
bug-infested hard drives and and keep records in more old-fashioned ways.

I think it would be nice if this discussion grows. 

Quite often I read elsewhere that many criminal successes depend on 
being able to afford and utilize technology better than cash-strapped 
police departments. 

Linux as an OS does have many pluses:

It is easier to set up and learn today than in the past.

Many institutions, and governments are turning to Linux.

Linux probably has the best language support, a huge plus in a 
multi-cultural city like San Francisco.

Linux is cheap and versatile.

Linux communicates with other OSs today-- and can be made highly portable.

As the letter writer pointed out-- it is not buggy or crash-prone.

And it will likely remain more cost-effective than Windows and slower to 
become obsolete.

What have I left out?

The only major "drawback" I see for implementing Linux in government 
(including Law Enforcement offices) offices is that it will eliminate 
the high-roller schmoozing that opens the doors to the most highly 
rewarded criminals in our society-- the ones that steal from the top of 
it by adding on "unplanned fees" and charges for cost overruns and 
bloated salaries.  The ones who get kick-backs and dividends from 
crooked officials.

Whereas our police may be unskilled with the latest programs and 
hardware-- I believe that is only because they have neither. 

Maybe BALUG could plan a program to address the subject "Linux and Law 
Enforcement."

Sincerely,

Robert B. Livingston
San Francisco


 
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