Los Angeles: A Voice In The Night

A Voice In The Night

Los Angeles is so deluged with street gangs -- 70,000 to 100,000 members at last count -- that simply keeping track of them is a monumental task. To help with the job, the city's probation officers are testing a new electronic Rube Goldberg device. Whenever word comes that a rumble could be in the offing, a $19,000 voice-analysis software system is supposed to telephone gang members on probation and warn them to stay off the streets. The computer first asks whoever is on the line to state his name and a few key words, then matches the responses with prerecorded voice...

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