Microsoft gives Police Department award

The Police Department received a special award of recognition Aug. 11 from Microsoft for making arrests in a software piracy case earlier this month. Microsoft official Al Cabaral off presented two plaques, one for Detective Mel Vyborney and one for die Police Department as a whole during a City Council meeting. Hi plaques were in appreciation of the July 8 arrest of two suspects involved in manufacturing pirated Microsoft Windows '98 software. "It was the first time we've confiscated such a large cache of pirated software. Using undercover reverse sting tactics, we have been working on this for months," said Lt. Jack Parra of the economics crimes unit. "(Piracy) represents a tremendous loss to the software industry." The illegal software was being sold at $10 per unit. The police bought 1,100 units for $11,000. The retail value of 1,100 units of legitimate Windows '98 is $136,000. Parra said most cases of software piracy are investigated by die company that makes the software, which gives the evidence to the police. This was one of the first times the police took charge of the investigation from the beginning. He said the department used techniques similar to those used for illegal drug and stolen property cases to catch the counterfeiters. "With today's technology, criminals can manufacture anything you-want. You can buy very expensive software for $2S. But it make software cost more down the road and there's no guarantiee that it's any good," Parra said. The Police Department has been trying to catch up with technology. The computer industry has trained police on how to detect fraudulent microprocessors. Police also are learning to detect credit card and Internet scams. "High-tech crimes are on the increase," said Vyborney, who worked on the case for .most of June and July.