More and better video evidence for police investigations of shootings: Chicago's area technology centers

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to describe the creation, implementation, activities and rationale for the Area Technology Centers (ATCs), an innovation adopted by the Chicago Police Department’s (CPD’s) Bureau of Detectives (BoD) in 2019 for the purpose of supporting investigations of crimes of serious violence by deploying specialized teams of officers to gather and process video and digital evidence.Design/methodology/approachThis case study utilizes historical information and descriptive data generated by a record-keeping system adopted by the ATCs.FindingsThe ATCs were developed as a collaboration between the CPD and the University of Chicago Crime Lab (a research center). The start-up was funded by a gift from the Griffin Foundation. Detectives have made extensive use of the services provided by the ATCs from the beginning, with the result that homicide and shooting investigations now have access to more video and digital evidence that has been processed by state-of-the-art equipment. The CPD has assumed budget responsibility for the ATCs, which is an indication of their success. The ATC teams have been assembled by voluntary transfers by sworn officers, together with an embedded analyst from the University of Chicago.Practical implicationsThe ATC model could be adopted by other large police departments. The study finds that ATCs can be effectively staffed by redeploying and training existing staff and that their operation does not require a budget increase.Social implicationsBy arguably making police investigations of shooting cases more efficient, the ATCs have the potential to increase the clearance rate and thereby prevent future gun violence.Originality/valueThe ATCs are a novel response to the challenges of securing and making good use of video and digital evidence in police investigations.

Problems of Innovative Science and Technology Center Financing From Budgetary Funds

This article attempts to identify and analyze the problems of financial support for the creation and functioning of innovative science and technology centers (ISTCs) at the expense of the budgetary system of the Russian Federation which require their solution, in particular through improving legislation. The article provides an overview of the legal problems associated with the creation of ISTCs, the determination of the effectiveness of the Russian Federation’s tax expenditures on activities of the ISTCs, and the assessment of the volume and permissible directions of budget financing of the ISTCs. Conclusions are made about the absence of any formal criteria for support, or refusal to support, proposals to create an ISTC presented by the project initiator, including those related to the financial and economic justification of the requested amount of funds from the budgets of the budgetary system of the Russian Federation, as well as about the biased nature of budgetary efficiency calculation for Russia’s tax expenditures on activities of the ISTCs. The paper also contains proposals on possible mechanisms for determining and assessing the validity of financial support for ISTCs from the federal budget declared by project initiators.

The Potential for Science Centers in Student-Teacher-Scientist Partnerships

Science centers and museums have been heavily invested in helping scientists engage in reaching broader publics. Starting with understanding the types of learning that happen in these institutions, the chapter explores the roles of science centers in society as defined by the Association of Science and Technology Centers. The authors explore how those roles play out in COSI, a large science center in Columbus, Ohio. Each of the roles identified is tied to programs related to the interface among school-aged youth, teachers (formal and informal educators), and scientists. The authors explore these roles by describing each program and then laying out the theoretical foundations and the desired outcomes of the engagement.

BASIC PRINCIPLES IN SPATIAL DEVELOPMENT OF MAIN FACILITIES FOR NEXT-GENERATION RESEARCH AND EDUCATION COMPLEXES

The main functions of an educational complex and their localization in urban context are reviewed. Along with principles underlying the development of research and education centers, the article formulates principles employed in creating media information centers, innovative technology centers and other typological objects to be found in research and education clusters. Public space is investigated in terms of social comfort. The main principles underlying the formal compositional structure of research and education complexes are classified based on the geometry of the latter. Several types of formal composition modeling of objects within such complexes are identified.

La colaboración mediada por tecnología como estrategia para potenciar visitas guiadas

It is proposed to analyze the scope and limitations that Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) offer as collaboration mediators; and enhancers of innovative experiences in non-formal education spaces. To this end, it is proposed to implement a methodology mediated by ICTs to promote and achieve greater use of the guided visits to the interactive science and technology centers. The work contemplates, firstly, carrying out a bibliographic inquiry and background review of interactive science and technology centers in different Ibero-American countries and secondly, it is proposed to design a methodology to enhance collaboration mediated by technologies in the framework of visits to centers interactives and then apply this methodology to a particular case study to measure its impact. The experience will take place at the Open Science and Technology Interactive Center (CICyT) of the National University of Lanús and proposes, through a specific intervention, comparatively analyzing 3 types of guided visits: a) traditional in-person visit format, b) visit face-to-face with instance of collaboration activities without the use of technology, c) interaction mediated by ICTs prior to the visit, face-to-face visit with use of ICTs, and instance of interaction mediated by ICTs after the visit, which will then be contrasted with the antecedents and theoretical studies found in the bibliography.

On safeguarding economic perspectives of regional enterprises in the trinational Neisse region

This article focuses on the economic development of especially small and medium-sized enterprises in the border triangle of Germany, Czech Republic and Poland. The motive for this article was primarily driven by the politically decided structural changes in the East German coal regions. While preparing this article, the authors found that this groundbreaking transformation resembles the unexpectedly occurring crisis originated by the corona virus in terms of analyzing, structuring measures and management principles. Organizations like economic development institutions located in the municipalities, networks or business initiatives and technology centers like the Bautzen-based Bautzen Innovation Center should play an important part in overcoming both challenges in its role as supporters of the regional economy and – for the innovation centers – host for new businesses.