سجلات الشرطة للسيارات .. الحاسبات تعمل

Police car records .. Computers work

Police car records

Records of all kinds are of utmost importance to the police forces in all areas of their activity. Since the computer has great advantages in keeping and searching records, it has been used in this field by the police, especially with regard to information about cars.

The police track cars with urgent urgency in three cases: if the car is stolen, if it is feared that a criminal will use it, or if it hits someone and causes his death or harm and its driver flees. There are other less urgent cases in which the police need information about cars, such as traffic violations, accidents that do not cause harm, and cars abandoned in public places.

The computer system that the police use to track cars consists of a large main computer that stores information about car registrations in the entire country. This main computer is connected to several regional computers that store information about local car accidents and local criminals. The regional computers are in turn connected to printer consoles in the main police stations in the region.

Three types of records are stored in the main computer: a list of all cars in the country, their descriptions, and the names and addresses of their owners; a list of stolen cars; and a copy of the regional list of cars belonging to known outlaws.

The regional computers also store three types of records: a copy of the list of cars stolen throughout the country; a list of cars used by known local criminals or their associates or by unqualified local drivers; and a list of cars registered in that area that are suspected of being involved in hit-and-run accidents.

Urgent investigations may begin, for example, when the police patrol car becomes suspicious of a vehicle. The patrol communicates wirelessly

(The computer system helps in tracking stolen cars (pages 128-129) or cars that caused traffic accidents (to the left).

(A diagram of a police information system)

The police officer in charge requests this information from the regional computer via a contact plate to inquire whether the number of the suspicious car is included in the list of cars that the police are used to pursuing. The officer in charge requests this information from the regional computer via a contact plate, specifying with a special code the urgency of his request. The computer responds within a few seconds. If the suspicious car is not on that list, the patrol is asked to leave it alone. However, the computer records this information for future reference if necessary. If the car is on that list, the computer types the available information about it on a typewriter in the control room.

An eyewitness may inform the police of partial descriptions of a car whose driver was involved in a hit-and-run accident, mentioning, for example, its color, model, and part of Its registration number. If the accident is serious, the local police may resort to the main computer to obtain a list of all cars registered in that area that meet the partial descriptions mentioned. This request is directed to the main computer from the console at the police station, via the regional computer. The main computer searches the general register of cars, using a special program stored in it, starting with the area in which the accident occurred, and searching for cars that meet the partial descriptions mentioned, and displays all registration numbers that match the partial numbers reported.

(Diagram showing the police communications system)

Cars that meet the above descriptions are added to the list of cars that the police suspect, then they are removed from this list after the police investigate and remove suspicion from them.

The central computer, like every regional computer, is distinguished by its ability to share time, so it issues many requests and responses at the same time, and does not wait until it is completely finished with a request before it begins responding to another request. One of the factors that makes this possible is the large disparity between the speed of the computer's operation and the speed of issuing and receiving signals through the consoles. The speed of the computer's operation may reach one million operations per second, while the speed of the typewriter does not exceed about fifteen characters per second. This means that the computer can carry out many operations in the period in which it receives a request. The regional computer is connected to dozens of consoles in police stations, while the central computer may be connected to hundreds of them. The importance of time sharing in this area is not hidden, as requests from several police stations may not be suspended until the regional computer, for example, has finished responding to a specific request. (Graphic context for inquiring about whether a car is known locally (right). An example of a typewriter's printout (below). What the policeman typed appears on the right and what the computer ordered to type appears on the left.)