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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 25, 1996)
THURSDAY WEATHER: Today - Windy & colder. North wind 20 to 30 mph. Tonight - Blustery & cold. I~x)w near 3 to 10. »«»««.»««»»«.««»»»««•»»« COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA SINCE 1901 VOL. 95 NO. 91 _ — -- ■ . .January 25, 1996_ --------- Computerized cruisers empower police TransPulse technology provides UNL officers with instant information By Chad Lorenz Senior Reporter Police at the University of Nebraska-Lin coln have cutting-edge technology as a new side arm. That side arm is the TransPulse in-car computer and it could help police solve more crimes, respond to calls more quickly and fight crimes more safely. Officers also will be able to stay on the street longer. Computers are being installed in six uni versity police vehicles, Sgt. Bill Manning said, and all six should be on-line by April. The computers, created by Transcrypt International in Lincoln, would provide of ficers instant access to information and com munication right in their vehicles, Manning said. “This car is becoming a very expensive office,” he said. The university police were the first to use TransPulse computers for law enforcement, Manning said. The computers, integrated with high-pow ered radios, can send messages between cruisers and headquarters, Manning said. The messaging capability cuts down on radio time and saves work for the dispatcher, he said. After the dispatcher sends a call out on computer, the information appears on the officers’ screens, Manning said, so they don’t have to-call back to have an address or de scription repeated. The computer allows the dispatcher to send a call out to every computer, so every officer can look out for a suspect, Manning said. With less radio traffic and confusion, people calling for police assistance will not have to wait as long, he said. The computer also keeps police and park ing records on file so officers can access them from their vehicles instead of calling the dis patcher for information or returning to head quarters, Manning said. An officer investigating a suspicious ve hicle, for instance, can cross-reference the license plate number with past reports to determine if it was stolen or vandalized. The officer also can look up intelligence reports to find tips or clues that could help solve a crime, Manning said. Manning said he hoped to add links to the National Crime Information Center and Nebraska Crime Information System. Offic ers could see if a vehicle or individual was wanted nationally or statewide. Travis Heying/DN Corporal Carl Oestmann of the UNL Police Department drives around campus Wednesday in a cruiser equipped with a new high-tech computer. Officers should know, for safety reasons, if the person they’re contacting is a wanted criminal, he said. A detachable keyboard also would let of ficers enter incident reports in the cruisers. Then they could stay on patrol in case any one needed assistance. Officers usually return to headquarters a few times every shift to type in their reports, Manning said. The computers, which operate by touch screen and keyboard, will be easy for offic ers to use, Manning said. He said he could train officers to use the TransPulse for a couple of hours while on duty. Study: Teachers lack sex education By Erin Schulte Staff Reporter A lack of sex education in college might mean future teachers can’t prop erly prepare to handle real-world classrooms and problems, according to a study released Wednesday. Researchers from the Sexuality In formation and Education Council of the United States found that because of a lack of required sexual education classes for students in teacher’s col leges, the nation’s teachers may be ill equipped to deal with AIDS, sexual ity and gender issues in the classroom. The survey was conducted at 169 colleges and universities nationwide. At least one school from each state was included, said Debra Haffner, president of SIECUS. Thirty-eight states require sex edu • cation in their elementary or high schools, but few teachers are trained to teach sex-education courses, the study found. Health teachers or school nurses are usually slated for the job, Haffner said. One in seven colleges require health education classes, but they are not focused enough to cover all im portant sexual issues, she said. No universities or colleges require teaching students to take a course about AIDS education, she said, and only 1 percent of sex courses offered are “comprehensive.” Classes defined as comprehensive by SIECUS included those that in clude aspects of human development, relationships, personal skills, sexual behavior, sexual health and society and culture issues, Haffner said. At UNL, Teacher’s College stu dents are required to take Health 100, a broad-based health course that touches on women’s health and sexu SeeSTUDY on 6 ___ Ready tar the Real World? Of 169 colleges and universities sampled from 1993 to 1995, 87 percent offered at least one health course and 90 percent offered a sex education elective to education majors. However: • Only one in seven schools required health education for all education students. • Only one in eight offered a health course with AIDS in the description. j • ■ • • • Only 1 percent of sex education courses offered were considered comprehensive. % Not one school required AIDS education. Source: Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States Nelson says license bill needs time By Ted Taylor Senior Reporter Gov. Ben Nelson said Wednesday he was troubled by the Legislature’s failure to advance a bill he said would “put kids first.” Legislators ran out of time Tuesday to de cide on LB592, which would automatically re voke the driver’s licenses of parents who refuse to pay child support. But Nelson said in a press conference he was optimistic that both sides would reach an agree ment within 45 days. “Perhaps the parties are going to be able to get together and resolve some differences,” he said. “Maybe not all parties, but those who are sincerely interested in seeing something go through the Legislature this year.” “The truth of the matter,” Nelson said, “is that opponents of the bill have given deadbeat parents, or non-custodial parents who don’t pay, the license to continue to ignore their responsibilty.” Nelson said mishandled visitation rights of ten were used as an excuse to not pay child sup port. “In difficult situations today, we see young people squeezed in a parental power play,” he said. “So it’s the interest of the kids we have at heart here first.” Sens. Chris Beutler of Lincoln and Curt Bromm of Wahoo flanked Nelson at the Capi See NELSON on 6 3 proposals for union plaza made to ASUN By Kasey Kerber Staff Reporter A fountain spraying water into its center, a rock bed interspersed with water jets and a permanent stage are among the features that could be part of a replacement for Broyhill fountain. Design plans were pre sented Wednesday night to the Association of Stu dents of the University of Nebraska. Neal Dean of Sinclair-Hille & Sasaki Associates is the chief ar chitect for the project. The first design calls for a circular fountain with - jets shooting water into me luumain s eenier. The second would be a bed of rocks inter spersed with high- and low-level jets vertically propelling water. The third design would be similar but more uniform and much more spread out, with the rock bed fountain extending the width of the Nebraska Union. All three designs are still in the proposal stage. Kim Todd, campus landscape architect and interim director of physical campus planning, said designs could borrow elements from each other and additional ideas could, and probably would, be incorporated. “When looking at these design plans, the most important focus is what the water will do,” Todd said. ASUN must also consider what will be ex posed during the winter. “Broyhill fountain has a lot of exposed el ements after we drain it for the winter,” Todd said. “We want to find a design that will make this an attractive feature all year long, because it is cold during the academic school year See ASUN on 6