U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

ON-LINE NATURAL LANGUAGE INFORMATION RETRIEVAL SYSTEM FOR USE BY POLICE INVESTIGATIVE UNITS

NCJ Number
2243
Author(s)
N B HELLER; D A BIRD
Date Published
1971
Length
22 pages
Annotation
PROPOSAL TO USE A NATURAL LANGUAGE INQUIRY SYSTEM FOR RETRIEVING INFORMATION FROM POLICE DATA FILES.
Abstract
THIS REPORT IS DIRECTED TOWARDS PRODUCING A SYSTEM FOR USE BY THE ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, POLICE DEPARTMENT. THE SYSTEM WILL ACCEPT A RELATIVELY FREE-FORM ENGLISH SENTENCE OR QUESTION AS INPUT. ESSENTIAL INFORMATION IS EXTRACTED AND USED TO CONSTRUCT A FORMATTED INQUIRY WHICH IS INPUT TO A REAL-TIME FILE SEARCH ALGORITHM. A TYPICAL REQUEST SENTENCE MIGHT BE - LIST ALL WHITE MALES, APPROXIMATELY 35 YEARS OLD, WHO ARE ASSOCIATED WITH AUTO THEFTS. RECORD RETRIEVAL AND FACT RETRIEVAL CAPABILITIES ARE BEING STUDIED. BIBLIOGRAPHY (AUTHOR ABSTRACT)