Beginner's Guide to Law Enforcement

Bulletproof Security Glass and Safety Glass Overview

2006-10-05T16:30:56Z

We've all seen the movie with the car chase or the man in the police interrogation room that decides that he is going to take a pop shot at the police who are standing on the other side of the glass. The police officers simply stand there knowing that the glass is bulletproof and somehow they also have nerves of steel when a loaded gun is fired in their direction. Can this really happen? We've all heard of bulletproof glass, but can it really stand up to what the movies lead us to believe about it. Also the term safety glass has been coined with the use of specially designed glass used for car windows. If this glass is so safe why don't we use it everywhere?

Before we move onto those questions there are some that we need to answer and understand. The first is what makes a piece of glass bulletproof? Obviously you can't just pick up any mirror, hold it up in front of you, and expect it to block the shot from a high-powered side arm. What makes this glass so special? The next question is who should really care about bulletproof glass? The average Joe may not need it in their daily life, but some people do - we should find out who they are because there is probably a good chance that our tax money is funding them. Safety glass is actually made two different ways - what are those ways is an important question to figure out. And what are the different uses of safety glass? They can't just be used in the car windows.

What makes glass bulletproof?

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To be completely honest with you there is no such thing as bulletproof glass. There are no pieces of glass out there that has the capabilities of not shattering when a bullet from a gun is fired at it. What we do have is bullet resistant glass. Yeah, you can call this just a matter of schematics, but I don't want anyone going out and thinking that there glass will never break if a bullet hits it. Actually the glass portion of the bullet resistant glass is not even the part that stops the bullet. You can either achieve this affect in one of two ways. The first is simply making the glass out of something called polycarbonate thermoplastic. This simply is extremely dense and strong plastic, but still gives off the transparent nature of glass. The other way to achieve the bullet resistant nature of glass is to have the glass laminated with a type of plastic. The plastic is laid upon the glass and is heated to a point where it melts onto the outside of it. This can also be done multiple times to achieve a stronger surface.

The bulletproof effect happens when the bullet is shot into the multiple layers of glass and plastic. The bullet passes through the first layer of glass extremely easily, but then is stopped by the hard plastic. This will usually show a big smash in the glass, but the plastic is actually the thing that is protecting the person or whatever else is on the other side of the plastic.

Who could use bulletproof glass?

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The first people that you will think of that use bulletproof glass is law enforcement. Police Officers have been using this glass for a long time on their windows on the outside of their vehicles, as well as a protective seal between them and the back seat. You will see it in a police station to, if they have a front window as well as in an interrogation room. You can expand the use of bulletproof glass to almost all law enforcement and military officials. The Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, FBI, CIA, and the Coast Guard all use this bulletproof glass on their vehicles and in any other way that will help them stay safe.

There are also a couple private users of bulletproof glass. The first are armored cars. Whether a bank or a private contractor owns the armored cars, there is a good chance that all the glass on the vehicle is going to be bulletproof. This protects the driver and any luggage that might be transported from those that would try to rob the vehicle. Another private institution that may use bulletproof glass is museums. Whether the museum showcases famous Van Gogh paintings or ancient historical documents, they will probably use bulletproof glass. Some people may resort to violence to obtain valuable artifacts, but also the glass is the safest insulation for the priceless works from accidents as well.

What are the different kinds of Safety Glass?

2006-10-05T16:33:56Z

There are actually two different kinds of safety glass out there in the world. They are laminated and tempered safety glass. The first kind, laminated, was used by the Auto manufactures in the year 1927 for their windshields. It is ironically, commonly referred to as "auto glass" - surprise. The process is similar to the bullet resistant glass that is addressed in an earlier question, but uses a different kind of plastic. The plastic is melted in between two or more pieces of glass. If the glass breaks the plastic holds the glass together. This prevents a multitude of things such as: flying shards of glass, a hole being made in the glass (the glass is incredibly hard to penetrate), and actually holds people into the car when an accident occurs. While it is not your wish to be flung into a glass window, it is a lot better than being realized out of the front of your car.

The second type of safety glass is tempered glass. The tempering process takes a piece of glass and heats it up to incredible temperatures, and then allows it to cool quickly. This process makes the glass 5 to 10 times harder than it was before. The big difference with tempered glass is what happens when it is broken. Most glass will break into large shards that are incredibly dangerous in the car, at home, or at work. Tempered glass breaks into tiny pebble sized pieces. This prevents the glass from easily breaking the skin when broken.

What are the different uses of Safety Glass?

2006-10-05T16:34:16Z

While safety glass is incredibly useful, the cost of it only makes it effective in certain situations. Both types of safety glass, tempered and laminated, are both strong when faced with possibly breaking but because of their different properties are used in different situations. Laminated safety glass, which is really two pieces of glass with a stick plastic in between them, is used in the following ways:

• Car Windshields
• Windows between office cubicles
• Shower windows
• Greenhouse glass
• Thermometer
• Cutting Boards

Tempered glass is extremely useful as well. Tempered glass is glass that has been heated to produce a much harder surface and the ability to beak down into small pebble sized pieces. Tempered glass is used in the following situations:

• Car side and rear windows
• Storm Doors
• Oven Doors
• Skylights
• Computer Screens
• Prescription and Non-prescription Eyewear
• LCD Televisions

Speeding Tickets: Avoidance and Getting Out of Them

2006-10-05T16:34:49Z

Almost every driver has felt the extreme dread of seeing those lights flashing in your rear view mirror. Your stomach drops and you think of all the things that you could have possibly doing wrong. Hopefully, the police officer will simply drive by you to go after someone else or they may just be heading to a call. Every once in a while though if you are not care those lights will be for you. Then the real fun begins as you wait in your car for the police officer to approach and ask the infamous question, "Do you have any idea how fast you were going?" I always try to think that I will have something intelligent to answer to this question, but every time faced with this situation I say something to the effect of having no idea how fast I was going.

There are ways to avoid a speeding ticket or get out of them - and I'm not talking about starting to cry if you are a girl, even though that works sometimes. The first things to look at are some common tips to avoid getting a speeding ticket in the first place. Some may be a reminder to many drivers, while there may be one or two that interests the reader so that they can no longer fear the punishment of getting pulled over by a police officer. The second bit of information is the ability to pay a certain amount of money to just makes the ticket go away. The third way that someone can avoid a speeding ticket is to employ the use of a car radar detector. And finally, if you do get a ticket what is the process of going through the legal system to get rid of the ticket.

Common tips to avoid a speeding ticket

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The first tip to avoiding a speeding ticket is to simply not speed. But because most of you are reading this to avoid the speeding ticket that you might get because you do speed, we will push past that one quickly. But this is the most positive way to avoid a speeding ticket. The second common tip is to be aware of your surroundings. Most drivers pay attention to the road at all times, but there are certain times when you drive through familiar areas or on the highway when you, as the driver, will not give your complete attention to the task at hand. By simply paying attention to the median and side roads that come upon you is a way that you can easily spot police officers' vehicles that are clocking speeders.

Another tip about being aware is to be aware of small towns. Most of the time speeds drastically change when entering on a route out in the country. The speed may drastically change from 55 mph to 25 mph with no warning. Being aware of the speed change will allow you to slow down so that police officers that are protecting the safety of their small town's residents. Another common tip is to remember spots where police officers have been before. Many officers will have a favorite spot to sit - if you remember that they were sitting there before then there is a good chance that you will them there sometime in the future.

Paying your way out of getting a speeding ticket on your record

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This is a little loophole in the legal system that benefits you and the city that gave you the ticket. Certain states, such as the state of Kansas, allow for a driver to pay for a ticket and make it go away completely. Since a speeding ticket will do nothing but harm to your record because of the possibility of insurance prices increasing or the possibility of accumulating multiple tickets which can cause more fines. In the state of Kansas, just like other states in the United States a person may elect to pay twice the amount of the ticket and possibly the price of traffic as well to avoid the ticket showing up on your record. While the ticket will appear on the citation database for law enforcement, there will be no record in your legal file for accumulation of multiple tickets and no record will be sent to your insurance company.

While this is an extremely expensive process, with the price of some tickets being well over a hundred dollars (making the ticket be 2 or 3 hundred dollars in total), this can avoid many future costs. The best way to find out about this is to check online with your state's Bureau of Motor Vehicles or Department of Motor Vehicles. There still may not be information on the website, but you can call for any information you may need. This is just another way to "avoid" a speeding ticket.

Using a radar detector to avoid a speeding ticket

2006-10-05T16:37:28Z

The radar detector is just another way for a motorist to avoid a speeding ticket by advising the driver about the possibility of a police officer in the area "clocking" people. The radio waves that come out of radar guns are monitored by the internal functions of a radar detector. There are problems with the usage of radar detectors though. The first is that technology continues to change with time and an ancient radar detector will not work for the recent laser guns those police officers. Even when the radar gun has the capability of picking up these new laser waves - the typical infrared light that comes out of these modern radar guns are aimed much lower than where the radar detector sits which does not allow for proper monitoring.

Also radar detectors are not legal in all parts of the world or even United States. When traveling through the state of Virginia and the commonwealth of Washington D.C. then you should take down your radar detector because they are illegal. Check with your local legislation to see if radar detectors are legal in your area. You can buy a good radar detector at electronic or car stores for just fewer than one hundred dollars.

The different actions you can take when receiving a speeding ticket

2006-10-05T16:37:48Z

There are three different actions that a person can take when receiving a speeding ticket. The first is to simply ignore the ticket. While this plan is not intelligent at all, many people still believe that the law enforcement will never catch up to them for a small speeding ticket. The problem is that many times when people are found by not paying a minor speeding ticket, they end up paying 5 times the amount as the original or possibly spending some time in the local jailhouse. While this seems extreme for a small speeding ticket, this is the course the state governments have decided to go to make sure that people take them seriously. The second course of action is to mail the ticket in with your payment. In an earlier category we talked about paying twice the amount - this happens at this point as well. Some tickets say they must be paid in 10 days and other in 30 days. By signing the ticket and sending the payment in, you are acknowledging that you did break the law and are guilty of the infractions placed upon you.

The other action to take is to present your case before a judge. There are many legal offices out there dedicated to help people that feel they are wrongly accused of a crime. The courtroom sets a date of trial on the ticket and expects to see you there if you decide not to pay by mail. The police office that presented you with the ticket will also meet you there, or a representative, to give that side of the case. If the officer does not show up then the judge will probably throw the case out. But if you do lose the case, then you will end up paying for the ticket, court costs, and any other legal fees that you incur.

Introduction to Fingerprint Readers

2006-10-05T16:38:50Z

You may think that fingerprint readers are pretty futuristic, something used only in spy thrillers. However, fingerprint scanning is fairly popular now. Police stations, high-security building, and even PC- keyboards can all brag of having fingerprint scanners. A personal USB fingerprint scanner is less than $100, so for not a lot of money, you can guard your computer with the security of biometrics. Instead of a password, or in addition to one, access to your computer would require a distinctive print.

Each human has a distinct set of fingerprints. A fingerprint is a pattern of ridges and valleys on your fingertips that make it easier to grip things. Fingerprints are a unique marker for a person, even an identical twin. This is the basic idea of fingerprint analysis, in both crime investigation and security. The job of a fingerprint reader is to take the place of a human analyst by collecting a print sample and comparing it to other samples on record.

A fingerprint reader has two basic jobs to perform. First, it needs to get an image of the fingerprint, and second, it needs to determine whether the fingerprint matches any pre-scanned images. The two most common ways to get an image of someone's fingerprint is through optical scanning or capacitance scanning. They both come up with the same image, but they go about it in completely different ways.

Optical Scanners

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An optical scanner has at its heart a charge coupled device (CCD), which is the same light sensor system used in digital cameras and camcorders. A CCD is an array of light-sensitive diodes called photosites. These photosites generate an electric signal in response to light photons. Each photosite records a pixel, which is a tiny dot that represents the light that hit that spot. Collectively, the light and dark pixels form an image of the scanned scene, or the fingerprint. Typically, an analog-to-digital converter in the scanner system processes the analog electrical signal to generate a digital representation of this image. When you place your finger on a glass plate, the scanning process starts and the camera takes a picture. The light source in the scanner illuminates the ridges of the finger and the CCD system generates an inverted image of the finger. Before comparing the image with those in its database, the scanner processor checks to make sure the image is clear, not too dark or too light. If the darkness level checks out, the scanner processor then checks the image definition. If the image is crisp and properly exposed, then it compares the captured fingerprint with fingerprints on file.

Capacitance Scanners

2006-10-05T16:42:18Z

Although capacitive scanners also work to generate an image of a fingerprint, they do so with an electrical current instead of with light. The sensor is made up of one or more semiconductor chips, which contain an array of tiny cells. Each cell has two conductor plates, which are covered with an insulating layer. The sensor is connected to an integrator, which is an electrical circuit built around an inverting operational amplifier. The inverting amplifier alters a supply voltage, which is based on the relative voltage of two inputs, the inverting terminal and the non-inverting terminal. The non-inverting terminal is connected to ground, and the inverting terminal is connected to a reference voltage supply and a feedback loop. The feedback loop, which is also connected to the amplifier output, includes the two conductor plates. The two conductor plates form a basic capacitor. The surface of the finger acts as a third capacitor plate, separated by the insulating layers in the cell structure and, in the case of the fingerprint valleys, a pocket of air. To scan the fingerprint, the processor closes the reset switch of each cell, which shorts each amplifier's input and output to "balance" the integrator circuit. When the switch is opened again, and the processor applies a fixed charge to the integrator circuit, the capacitors charge up. The capacitance of the feedback loop's capacitor affects the voltage at the amplifier's input, which affects the amplifier's output. Since the distance to the finger alters capacitance, a finger ridge will result in a different voltage output than a finger valley. The scanner then reads the output of the voltage and determines if it is the characteristic of a ridge or of a valley. By reading every cell in the sensor array, it can put together an image similar to the one captured by the optical scanner.

Analyzing the Fingerprints

2006-10-05T16:42:41Z

Fingerprint scanners typically analyze fingerprints by comparing specific features known as minutiae. Analysts concentrate on the points where the ridge line ends or splits into two (known as a bifurcation). These features are collectively referred to as typica. The scanner system software analyzes these minutiae using highly complex algorithms. Basically, measuring the relative points of minutiae is comparable to recognizing part of the sky by the relative positions of the stars. Think of the shapes that various minutia form when a straight line is drawn between them. If two prints have three ridge endings and two bifurcations, forming the same shape with the same dimensions, then there is a good chance that they are a match. The scanner system doesn't have to find the entire pattern of minutiae both in the sample and in the print on record to have a match. It only has to find a sufficient number of minutiae patterns that the two prints have in common. The exact number varies according to the scanner programming.

Pros and Cons of Fingerprint Scanners

2006-10-05T16:43:02Z

There are several different types of security systems, most which look for one of the following: what you have, what you know, or who you are. "What you have" systems need some sort of a token, such as a keycard, to gain access. "What you know" systems rely on passwords and pin numbers. "Who you are" systems require physical evidence, such a fingerprint, voice, or iris pattern, to verify that you are who you say you are. There are several advantages of the latter over the formers. First, physical attributes are harder to fake than identity cards. Second, you can't guess a fingerprint like you can a password. Third, you can't misplace physical attributes like you can a keycard. And last, you can't forget your fingerprints like you can a password.

Although these types of systems may seem fool proof, they are not infallible. Optical scanners cannot always distinguish between a fingerprint and a picture of a fingerprint. Capacitive scanners can be fooled with a mold of someone's fingerprint. In a worst case scenario, a criminal could even cut off a person's finger in order to gain access to confidential information. Although some scanners have heat sensors that attempt to distinguish actual fingerprints from molds or a dismembered finger, they too can be fooled with a gelatin print over a real finger. The main disadvantage of using fingerprints for identification is that once someone steals your identification, you can never get it back. Credit cards, pin numbers, and passwords can be changed, but once someone steals your fingerprints, your pretty much stuck. You wouldn't be able to use your fingerprint again unless you were sure that all the copies had been destroyed. In order to make the most of a biometric security system, it should be combined with another form of security, such as a pin number or a password.

References
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/fingerprint-scanner5.htm