Athens Police Department to Buy Cell Phone Scanning Technology

ATHENS, Ohio (WSAZ) -- The Athens Police Department has been approved to buy special software and hardware used to scan cell phones for potential evidence during the course a of a criminal investigation.

The City Council approved the $17,000 purchase this week.

The police department will use the funds to buy three software and hardware combination units to analyze cell phone data.

Police currently have to drive the phones to Columbus to be analyzed and are not able to get information back for up to four weeks. Police Chief Tom Pyle says the new technology will allow them to do the same work in-house and get results back in less than 24 hours.

Pyle says the department runs into situations where this technology could be used two to three times a week.

Investigators will only be able to analyze phones if they are given permission, have a warrant or are collecting evidence as part of an investigation.

Pyle says data not important to the case will be thrown out, destroyed, or returned to its owner by a judge.

According to Pyle, any information taken from the phones will be stored remotely and treated carefully like any other piece of evidence.

Action Systems add iPad tipos software portfolio

Action Systems Inc., makers of the Restaurant Manager Point-of-Sale System and mobile POS solutions for restaurants, has added v18 software capabilities for the iPad and iPad mini.

The latest addition to ASI's wireless POS offerings comes as the company marks the 10-year anniversary of its mobile product line.

"Restaurant Manager is hardware agnostic," said Alex Malison, CEO of Action Systems. "The system is designed to be flexible and customizable so that it fits the way independent restaurateurs do business. Our software can run on any traditional touchscreen terminal or a tablet like the iPad, iPad Mini, or Android tablets. As demand for iPad POS solutions has grown, more and more restaurant manager users have decided to convert their systems."

Restaurant Manager includes features such as the Write-On Handheld wireless ordering and payment system for the iPod Touch, and the RM Monitor remote reporting app.

"We are very excited about the possibilities for restaurants using tablet solutions," says Jay Shavitz, Product Manager at Action Systems. "Running the full POS software is just the beginning for iPad POS. Restaurants will see major increases in top line revenue from new customer facing technology currently in development as a native app for iPad, iPad Mini and smartphones."

ASI plans to launch these new mobile POS solutions as part of its v19 software, set to be released later this year.