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

[Michael T. Halligan]

> 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
>

I don't doubt that techies and reasonably intelligent individuals can 
use Linux on the desktop. However, if you've ever managed to go through 
the process of dealing with a towed car, or paying a parking ticket, 
only to watch our fine local government lose the paperwork, mis-enter 
payment information, an d then issue a warrant, you'd be rather 
frightened that these savants might some day have to use anything more 
complicated than Windows 95.

I'm not quite sure where you get the idea that SF has a lot of 
unemployed tech people. Tell that to the 20 recruiters a week who e-mail 
me thinking that I might want to sell my business and take higher risk 
and a lower salary at their crappy dot-com job. Or to all of my friends 
at start-ups constantly asking me if I know any web 
coders/sysadmins/network architects looking for a new gig. Business is 
booming right now. If it isn't, then you're not looking in the right places.

As incompetent as our local government is, I shudder to imagine them 
trying to figure out the Xwindows way of cut & paste.