Bill Ward, director of information technology for the Polk County Sheriff's Office, will speak at the University of South Florida Polytechnic's Information Technology Colloquium on Feb. 18, 2009, from noon to 1 p.m. in the Lakeland Technology Building, room LTB1124. The public is invited and admission is free.

Ward will discuss how technology is changing the face of public safety and law enforcement. According to Ward, new advances in software -- such as automated license plate recognition, facial recognition, and automated vehicle location - will bring Polk County to the forefront in integrated law enforcement. Polk County is attempting a level of law enforcement that is unrivaled anywhere else in the country, Ward says..

Sponsored by USF's IT department, headquartered at USF Polytechnic, the IT colloquium series, which began in 2002, features USF Polytechnic faculty, community members and visiting professors. It aims to expand the scope of traditional computer science education into a broader set of disciplines more in tune with the needs of modern society and business.