For Immediate Release
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
Contact: John Guilfoil
Phone: 617-993-0003
Email: john@jgpr.net
Burlington Police Lieutenant Selected to Join the Criminal Justice Technology Forecasting Group
BURLINGTON — Chief Michael Kent is pleased to announce that Burlington Police Lt. Glen Mills has been selected to join the Criminal Justice Technology Forecasting Group (CJTFG).
The CJTFG is a U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance expert panel of criminal justice technology specialists and leaders in government, industry, and academia who come together to identify and analyze major emerging technology trends, opportunities, and threats that are most likely to impact criminal justice practice significantly over the next three to five years.
The panel will produce public reports intended to advise agencies on how they can utilize key technologies more effectively, but also advise criminal justice service providers, grant funding agencies, and other key decision-makers on what they can do to make technologies more useful.
Lt. Mills was selected to join the CJTFG based on his efforts to advocate the use of open source tools for public safety. Open source software is any software program where the original source code is made freely available. Open Source software can be used by law enforcement to effectively enhance training, communication and transparency, and for advanced tasks such as crime mapping and analysis.
“It is an honor to be selected to join this group of outstanding and forward-thinking leaders,” Lt. Mills said. “I hope that my ideas about open source software will make positive contributions to the panel’s discussions and that I can make an impact on the criminal justice field in the coming years.”
Over the past year, Lt. Mills has given multiple presentations to various groups in the United States and Canada on the free technological resources and social media tools that can be used for public safety.
As a keynote speaker at the Crime and Intelligence Symposium hosted by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in Halifax Nova Scotia, he discussed the use of social media for law enforcement during major incidents. Lt. Mills also presented at the International Association of Crime Analysts Annual Conference in Denver, the Police Innovation Conference at the Microsoft NERD Center in Cambridge, and the Massachusetts Health Officers Conference in Hyannis.
“Our department is incredibly proud that one of our own has been selected to join this progressive group of individuals,” Chief Kent said. “We are eager to watch Lt. Mills continue to make a significant influence in our field and to grow as a law enforcement leader.”
Lt. Mills attended his first CJTFG meeting at the RAND Corporation offices in Arlington, Va. on Jan. 27-28. At this meeting, the group discussed major technological trends, their implications for criminal justice, and potential next steps to respond. Some of the topics included information sharing and safeguarding, video and other sensors, digital forensics, and operational technologies. Lt. Mills gave a short presentation on his ideas and efforts to encourage public safety agencies to use free online resources and software, and major issues related to using open source tools.
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