Law Enforcement Software
Law Enforcement Software
The CrimeStar Master Name Index (MNI) module has the ability link multiple photos to each master name record. Each linked photo has an associated reference date. MNI photos are sorted by date and presented in descending order with the most recent photo at the top of this list.
To add a photo to a master name index record, follow these 4 steps.
Step 1 - Capture a digital picture or photo using scanner or digital camera. Images should be saved as either a GIF or JPG file format. Both of these formats are very common. Refer to the user manual for the device you are using to capture the photo, for instructions on how to save a file in either of these two formats.
Note: We have had excellent results from digital camera’s that store images directly to a floppy disk (such as the Sony Mavica). These types of cameras make capturing and importing digital images very convenient.
Step 2 - Place the graphic file, in a directory on your computer or network where you will be able to access it from your local computer. Once again refer to the user documentation for your image capture device for instructions on how to save the image to a disk drive. Remember the name of the file and the directory where it is stored.
Step 3 - Open or Create the master name index record that the photo will be associated with. Then select the ‘Photo’ index tab on the Master Name Index form, and click the Add button located on that page.
Step 4 - You will be prompted with a standard windows file dialog box. Using the file dialog selection box locate and select the graphic file saved in Step 2. The image will be displayed on the left side of the ‘photo’ page. By default to image will be date stamped with the current date. Change the date reference in the ‘Photo Date’ list to represent when the photo was taken.
The image has now been saved in the Photo Database table and is linked to the associated Master Name Index record. Photos are actually copied and imbedded into the table, there is no need to save the original graphics file created in Step 2, and you may now delete this file using the standard windows explorer or file manager if you wish.
To delete a photo from a master name record, select the photo you wish to delete using the scrolling date reference table on the ‘photo’ page. When you see the photo you wish to delete displayed on the left side of the ‘photo’ page, click the delete button. Remember, the photo was imbedded into the database table, and the original image file may have been deleted as indicated above. If you delete this photo from the MNI record, you may not be able to recover it.
Optimum Photo Size
CrimeStar MNI photos should be approximately 250 pixels by 250 Pixels or 3X3 inches. Images which are larger or smaller than this size will be automatically scaled to fit within the forms image panel. If the image is not automatically scaled, it can be shown interactively on the screen by using the scroll bars to scroll the image within the viewing window. However when the MNI record is printed, images larger than this optimum size will be scaled to fit in the area of the MNI Detail page reserved for photos. This scaling process may make images appear to be unusually small or large depending upon the image scaling required.
* Note about the Professional version of Crimestar RMS *
Remember that digital photos are imbedded into a ‘photo’ table of the database and in the Professional Version each database table has a maximum file size of 2GB. As such if the size of the digital image that you capture is 20,000 bytes, then the maximum capacity of the photo table will be (2,000,000,000 bytes/ 20,000 bytes = 100,000 ) 100,000 photos. However, if you capture images in a high resolution format or inefficient file format such as .BMP then each photo may be as large as 200,000 bytes (or more) reducing the maximum capacity of the photo file to (2,000,000,000 / 200,000 = 10,000 ) 10,000 images. Always try to keep the size of the photo as small as possible as to maximize the number of photos that can be saved into the system. The Enterprise Version of Crimestar has no limit on the number of photos that can be saved. Also See: Database Capacity and Performance
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Saving the Image/Photo to disk
In most modules CrimeStar provides you with a simple means to extract the photograph to a file on disk so that it can be resized or manipulated using other graphics software. While the photo is being displayed on the form, click on the small 'Extract' image button . 
Crimestar will then present you with a popup dialog form which will allow you to save the photo back to disk in either a BMP, GIF or JPG file format. Once the file exists on disk, you can use a wide variety of image enhancement tools to crop or otherwise modify the image as desired.