News on ID Cards, ID Badges and Photo ID Systems: 03/18/2007

Police press Healy probe

10:17 PM

Most residents interviewed yesterday said they feel safe at Healy Towers, although the incident has put people who live in the community on heightened alert. "This is a community ... and like any other community, terrible things like this can happen," said Joe, a Winston-Salem native who declined to provide his last name. "I don't think it is that dangerous here, and if I thought it was, I would carry around weapons."A meeting of HAWS officials, a few police officers, residents and Healy Towers management was held shortly after Bryant's death, residents said. It centered on tightening security measures, which included installing surveillance cameras in the building and adding a photo to residents' identification badges.The residents interviewed declined to give their names in fear of what the publicity would bring. Many of them already had the new photo ID badges.

Full Article from Journalnow.com.

Friday, March 23, 2007

More cities should have vendor laws

10:17 PM

?That?s exactly what we?re trying to keep from happening,? Public Works Director David Jordan said. ?Keep citizens from getting scammed.?Residents still need to be cautious when dealing with a contractor with whom they are not familiar. The system is not foolproof ? a few council members last week said they had heard about some bogus contracts residents had signed ? but it is a solid safety net not enough cities across the county provide to their residents. Too often after nature?s wrath strikes a town, lesser elements of society victimize the victims again.By requiring background checks, ID badges, registration and guarantees from contractors, Brazoria?s ordinance does a good job of protecting its residents from the predators looking to make a buck from people?s misfortune.This editorial was written by Michael Morris, assistant managing editor of The Facts.

Full Article from TheFacts.com.

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Water crisis ready to swamp planet

2:20 AM

The "water detectives" proudly show off their ID badges, affixed to crisply pressed, button-down shirts. The school kids walk with purpose, clipboards in hand, patrolling the parched streets of Matamoros, Mexico, looking for locals who are wantonly wasting water. They bust residents hosing down their cars and track down leaky pipes in a bid to preserve their Rio Bravo, which a few years earlier had dried up completely. The sober, no-nonsense demeanour of detectives like Carlos Garcia -- a nine-year-old whose disarmingly deep, husky voice delivers his lectures like a news anchor -- have helped the city reduce its water consumption by 18% in just one year. Water Detectives is a documentary that sums up today's World
Water Day theme -- "Coping With Water Scarcity" -- with the tidy simplicity of school children.

Full Article from Ottsun.com.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Homeland Security dismisses Real ID privacy worries

2:20 AM

"With what happens now in airports, it doesn't look like it would matter how hard the document was to fake because no one looks at it closely enough to even think about that question," said committee Chairman J. Howard Beales, a George Washington University professor and former Federal Trade Commission official. "Is there a more elaborate process that's envisioned here?" Baker said Homeland Security was considering taking over the identification check process and putting in stricter controls. Right now, people who check IDs in airport security lines are not generally government employees, he said. Earlier in the meeting, Jonathan Frenkel, a senior policy adviser with Homeland Security, complained about what he called a rash of "misinformation" about draft national standards for ID cards. For one thing, he said it's "utter nonsense" that the U.S. government
is planning a "Big Brother kind of system" to track American citizens' every move through the cards, as one Missouri state legislator suggested this week.

Full Article from News.com.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Citizen Corps seeks new members

2:20 AM

Although the Clermont chapter of Citizen Corps has not yet had to deploy, the group is trying to stay one step ahead of natural and man-made disasters by coordinating with other local emergency preparedness organizations like the Fire Corps, Medical Reserve Corps, Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), County Animal Response Team and Volunteers in Police Service."CERT is actually a group that started before Citizen's Corps in California for earthquakes," said Stephanie Hines, who helped organize all the separate groups under the Citizen Corps' umbrella. "We wanted to find interested doctors who might want to volunteer at Medical Corps for example."If there is a disaster in the area, the Clermont County Citizen Corps would set up a reception center close to the site of the event and then coordinate each relief agency responding while also assigning volunteers who turn up based upon their specific expertise, which could be as simple as providing water and food to firefighters or police."We're just trying to get everybody to the table and keep everyone out of each other's way," said Hite. "We will bring all other people into the volunteer center, check credentials and give them ID badges. "

Full Article from CommunityPress.com.

Monday, March 19, 2007

Doctors and nurses' badges may be a hotbed of 'superbugs'

2:20 AM

The new research also shows that accessories like necklaces that cling to ID cards, carry more disease-causing bacteria than standard clip-on badges, and are more likely to be infected with antibiotic resistant organisms. The researchers said that hospital pathogens could be passed on from the hands or clothes of healthcare workers. Based on these findings, infection experts suggest cleaning lanyards and badges.The researchers collected samples from the surface of lanyards plus the surface, edge and connections of badges worn by 53 nurses and 18 doctors. They isolated 18 pathogens from badges and 27 from lanyards.The material that lanyards are made from probably made it easier for the researchers to isolate pathogens. But more research is needed to confirm this, the researchers said.

Full Article from DailyIndia.com.

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