Actually, the Database Is God

摘要

Databases aren't sexy. jodie foster will never play an ident technician in the movies. But they were the key to catching the snipers―and they offer the best chance to protect us against terror in the future. Profiling failed miserably. Computerized fingerprinting triumphed. It was by matching a print found on a gun catalog at a crime scene in Montgomery, Ala., to one in an INS database in Washington state that the Feds cracked open the case and paved the way for the arrest of the two suspected snipers. The authorities deserve all the credit they're getting for connecting the dots and lifting the fear. Chief Charles Moose and his team employed the latest technology: a national license-plate database; chemical scanners that can pick up molecules off evidence, and "ballistic fingerprinting," which allowed the authorities in Maryland to compare shell casings and bullets to prove that the crimes were linked. Even more dots were available, but didn't get connected until it was too late, like the records of the snipers' traffic violations in the first days of the spree.