January 2, 2003	Thursday	Shawwal 28, 1423

PARIS, Jan 1: French police have unveiled a new computer — code-named SALVAC — that should allow them to better identify serial killers, as well as coordinate their homicide investigations with police throughout Europe.

Serial killers have in recent years become an everyday fact of life for French police who have repeatedly revealed that most of the killers would have been stopped early during their killing sprees had police been able to better coordinate and analyze information contained in existing data banks.

SALVAC, which stands for Systeme d’Analyses et de Liens de la Violence Associee au Crime (System of analysis and links to violence associated with crime), is a specially-adapted model of a Canadian system, VICLAS, considered as the most effective such system designed to allow police to identify and stop serial killers before they are allowed to pursue their crimes.

French police will now be systematically required to fill out a 168-point questionnaire every time they are required to deal with a homicide, and provide the computer with such information as a profile of the victim, scene of the crime, state of the cadavre, and the nature of the armament used.

Police say they have already entered the details of more than 50 recent crimes, but admit that the system won’t become productive until they’ve managed to enter more recent data.