Homeland Security & Crime

• A DNA sample should be taken from all convicted criminals from this point forward. This will be an enormous step forward in solving crime, since so many criminals are repeat offenders. It will reduce the number of serial killers on the loose, and will cut down on the number of unsolved crimes. Twenty-four states already take DNA samples from criminals. Those that do not must be strongly encouraged to do so.
• Connect all law enforcement crime computers, including FBI, state, county and local police departments. How many criminals find it too easy to escape detection by crossing state lines and continuing to live their lives as if nothing had happened? We have seen in the report of the 9/11 commission how dire can be the consequences of having federal agencies that do not communicate with each other. I believe that a similar situation pertains to tracking and solving crimes such as murder, rape and armed robbery within the United States.
• Encourage media entrepreneurs to create a 24-hour mainstream crime channel to root out all criminals, from murderers to the local rapists and sexual predators, to the armed robbers and even suspected terrorists. Unfortunately, there's enough material for this proposed crime channel from all the law enforcement agencies across the country. Given the success of shows like "Missing" and "America's Most Wanted" and the success of the Amber Alert road signs for abducted children, this Crime Channel would, I believe, prove even more successful. Moreover, I'd like to see, throughout the day, not only photographs of missing persons, but also, as in the old Wild West, "Wanted" posters: photos of criminals still at large, preferably with a bounty on their heads.
• Although Social Security numbers and cards were never intended to be used as part of a national ID system, SS numbers are in fact already used as one, from college ID numbers to security information for your credit card. It is time to accept this and make some necessary adaptations. I propose that all Social Security cards should carry a photograph and fingerprints. This ID system should be extended to everyone, including babies and children. All children, from the moment of birth, should have fingerprints, thumbprints, and footprints taken and identification cards issued. Think how this would help find missing and abducted children.
• If everyone in the nation has an ID card with that information on it, it will make it that much easier for police to do their work when people go missing. For children, the photo should be updated every year. This could be done in the schools. For adults, the photo should be renewed along with Drivers' license at least every four years. All the information should be entered into a computer database with an easy search function. Fingerprints will then be at your fingertips via a computer database.
• DMV in all states must require an updated photo with all drivers' license renewals because people color their hair, gain weight, lose hair and so forth. Fingerprints should also be required, and at some point eye prints also. The patterns in the iris, the colored area around the pupil, are individual and impossible to duplicate, making them a virtually foolproof way of checking identity.
• All visitors to the United States should be issued with a United States' Traveler's Card, containing photograph and fingerprints, and at some point an eye print, which they would be required to carry with them at all times, just as people are required to carry their driver's license when behind the wheel. It is not enough just to take fingerprints of visitors at the port of entry. We will not tolerate rogues and terrorists in our country moving around underneath the law enforcement screen.
  
  These measures will greatly increase homeland security and make the work of law enforcement and immigration officials much easier. We all have enough to worry about in our daily lives without also being burdened with the feeling of insecurity in our homes and as we travel.
  
  Make it a priority to eliminate homelessness. Being homeless drives some people to crime. Homelessness in this country was not a large problem until the 1980s. The fact that now, nearly 20 years later, it is still a major problem is a national disgrace. Unfortunately, criminals are able slip under the radar screen and assimilate into this crowd of unfortunates. We need to create homeless housing that low-income people can afford and encourage the building of clean, safe shelters for the homeless. This does not have to involve government money. We could enlist Hollywood's help. There have been a number of recent initiatives by movie stars to help the homeless, and these should be supported and extended. Also, law enforcement should be empowered to take homeless people to shelters if warranted. No one should have to or choose to live on the streets.
  
  I believe that the measures I have outlined will help to reduce crime and terrorism, and make every American citizen safer.