SCOTS AT CUTTING EDGE OF WAR ON COCAINE

Hi-Tech Firm Help Cops

A SMALL hi-tech firm is on the front line of the international war on
cocaine trafficking.

Lanarkshire-based Memex are linking the Metropolitan Police and cops in
Jamaica thanks to an advanced computer system.

The network helps police and intelligence agencies collect and cross-match
mountains of information on criminals.

It will help detectives in London and Kingston identify and track the main
players in the cocaine trade.

Earlier this week, it emerged that crack use was spiralling, thanks to
cocaine smuggled to Britain via the West Indies.

Crack, a deadly bi-product of cocaine, has now spread to Scotland, sparking
fears of drug-related violence among gangs.

Memex computer programmers started working with Scotland Yard during
Operation Trident, which targeted gun crime connected to the drug trade.

Links between officers in London and Kingston helped the 40-strong Scots
firm win the contract to build the same system for the police in Jamaica.

Now the two computer databases are to be linked to help police battle
traffickers and their mules.

Memex managing director David Carrick said: "Our close links with the
Metropolitan Police and the successful use of our software in Operation
Trident has led to the new work in Jamaica.

"The first phase of the contract has now been completed with the
installation of a live operational intelligence system within the Jamaican
Constabulary Force.

"We will now look at real-time sharing of intelligence between Jamaica and
London.

"The system allows officers to search large quantities of incident reports,
details from unrelated cases and many other sources by using a
sophisticated search."

The £100,000 deal won the backing of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Memex's other clients include the FBI, the US Army Defence wing, Los
Angeles drug cops and police forces across the United States.

Police in Bermuda and Venezuela - a key staging post for drug shipments -
also use the software, which has been used to great success by forces in
the UK.

In one case, a rapist was trapped using Memex. Officers noted that the
attacker had worn a white coloured Kappa jacket.

Two weeks earlier, Wayne Dolan had been arrested on a minor theft charge -
while wearing a similar jacket.

When police on the rape inquiry fed the word "white Kappa jacket" into the
computer, Dolan's name came up.

The rapist was jailed for 10 years in 1999.