Pubdate: Mon,  1 Jul 2002
Source: Daily Record (UK)
Copyright: 2002 Daily Record and Sunday Mail Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/111
Author: Andrew Walker

SCOTS AT CUTTING EDGE OF WAR ON COCAINE

Hi-Tech Firm Help Cops

A SMALL hi-tech firm is on the front line of the international war on 
cocaine trafficking.

Lanarkshire-based Memex are linking the Metropolitan Police and cops in 
Jamaica thanks to an advanced computer system.

The network helps police and intelligence agencies collect and cross-match 
mountains of information on criminals.

It will help detectives in London and Kingston identify and track the main 
players in the cocaine trade.

Earlier this week, it emerged that crack use was spiralling, thanks to 
cocaine smuggled to Britain via the West Indies.

Crack, a deadly bi-product of cocaine, has now spread to Scotland, sparking 
fears of drug-related violence among gangs.

Memex computer programmers started working with Scotland Yard during 
Operation Trident, which targeted gun crime connected to the drug trade.

Links between officers in London and Kingston helped the 40-strong Scots 
firm win the contract to build the same system for the police in Jamaica.

Now the two computer databases are to be linked to help police battle 
traffickers and their mules.

Memex managing director David Carrick said: "Our close links with the 
Metropolitan Police and the successful use of our software in Operation 
Trident has led to the new work in Jamaica.

"The first phase of the contract has now been completed with the 
installation of a live operational intelligence system within the Jamaican 
Constabulary Force.

"We will now look at real-time sharing of intelligence between Jamaica and 
London.

"The system allows officers to search large quantities of incident reports, 
details from unrelated cases and many other sources by using a 
sophisticated search."

The £100,000 deal won the backing of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Memex's other clients include the FBI, the US Army Defence wing, Los 
Angeles drug cops and police forces across the United States.

Police in Bermuda and Venezuela - a key staging post for drug shipments - 
also use the software, which has been used to great success by forces in 
the UK.

In one case, a rapist was trapped using Memex. Officers noted that the 
attacker had worn a white coloured Kappa jacket.

Two weeks earlier, Wayne Dolan had been arrested on a minor theft charge - 
while wearing a similar jacket.

When police on the rape inquiry fed the word "white Kappa jacket" into the 
computer, Dolan's name came up.

The rapist was jailed for 10 years in 1999.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart