Sara Mabry Slemmons

December 10, 2007

Annotated Bibliography:
Becoming Batman

Dear Mr. Wayne,

The current circumstances in the city of “Gotham” (a.k.a. New York City, New

York) are of great concern to you. You are frustrated by the corruption of those in power

and the tendency of criminals to escape punishment because of the justice system’s

insistence on “due process.” You have determined that the only course of action is to take

action in the form of vigilante justice, becoming the infamous figure known as Batman,

while still maintaining a strict personal anti-gun code. Good for you.

Now, a new series of difficulties lies before you? How will you turn a cave into

an underground fortress? How will carry out your new responsibilities? How will you

find out the identities of those in need of capture? What do you do when the city is in

danger due to psychosis-causing chemicals? This brief resource guide is intended to assist

you in addressing some of these difficulties. These resources are all available on-line to

preserve your anonymity.

If you have further questions, please contact your local librarian Barbara Gordon

for further information assistance.

Government Sources That May Be of Use to You

City of New York. 2007. District Attorneys. Available at

http://www.nyc.gov/portal/site/nycgov/menuitem.d8d324265ce156f6a62fa246
01c789a0/ (Access December 8, 2007).

Here’s a little bit of useful contact info. It’s nice to be in touch with some of the people
who will help to put the people you capture behind bars. It’s also nice for getting in touch
with your girlfriend who works down at the district attorney’s office.
City of New York: Police Department. 2007. Contact information. Available at
http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/home/contact_information.shtml
(Accessed December 9, 2007).

This is good for when you need to call in and get some information or tell them that
you’ve left them a package/tied-up felon downtown. Just don’t Robin use this list to
crank call them on a slow evenings, and remember not to call from your actual home
residence or you can kiss your secret identity goodbye.

City of New York: Police Department. 2007. Most Wanted. Available at

http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/most_wanted/most_wanted_index.shtml
(Accessed December 9,2 007).

These are the most dangerous criminals currently at large in your city. They are your
most immediate problems and with your help will likely remain uncaptured. Hurry and
finish reading this bibliography; your city needs you!

Federal Bureau of Investigation. 2007. Crime Alert. Available at

http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/alert/alert.htm (Accessed December 9, 2007).

This will provide you with more updates about some current criminals that the FBI is
looking for and also a few missing persons. Remember that it’s important for you to stay
up to date on criminal activities across the country, because sooner or later all of it will
come to you.

Federal Bureau of Investigation. 2007. The FBI’s ten most wanted fugitives.
Available at http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/fugitives/fugitives.htm
(Accessed December 9, 2007).

These are some the people you should be keeping an eye out for. While money is not a
concern for you, in some cases there is a reward for information leading to their capture.

Federal Bureau of Investigation. 2007. Fingerprint identification: An overview.

Available http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cjisd/ident.htm (Accessed December 9,
2007).

This is a great resource for information on how to use fingerprints to find and track
criminals. It’s intended as a resource for law enforcement officers. It includes a section
on taking legible fingerprints, which you may find particularly useful.

Federal Bureau of Investigation. 2007. Organized crime. Available at

http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cid/orgcrime/ocshome.htm (Accessed December 9,
2007).

This is the FBI’s portal to information on organized crime. It includes an overview,

recent news, a glossary, and information on specific organized crime groups. You should
be able to find a lot of useful information here to help you in your crusade to bring these
criminals to justice.

Federal Bureau of Prisons. 2007. Inmate locator. Available at

http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/LocateInmate.jsp (Accessed December 9, 2007).

This can be used to look-up information about criminals in the federal prison system. It’s
always nice to know if the lunatic you handed over to the police three months ago has
been released for good behavior.

Federal Emergency Management Agency. 2006. Risk management series: Safe

rooms and shelters: Protecting people against terrorist attacks. Available at
http://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?id=1910 (Accessed December 9,
2007).

This information on making a shelter or safe room should be helpful in building a secure
bat-cave. You’ll have to do most of the work yourself if you want to maintain your cloak
of secrecy.

Homeland Security. 2004. National Response Plan.

http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/NRPbaseplan.pdf (Accessed December 9,
2007).

In the event of an emergency or disaster, whether that’s citywide fires or a chemical

attack involving hazardous vapors and the city’s train system, this is the framework that
the government has set up to deal with it. Things probably won’t go according to plan,
but this should give you some idea of who to expect to be doing what when the disaster
strikes.

Interpol. 2007. Criteria: Arrest warrant issued by ICC. Available at

http://www.interpol.int/Public/Wanted/Search/SearchWantedBy.asp?
WANTEDBY=ICC (Accessed December 9, 2007).

These are some other people you should be on the lookout for. Some of them will
undoubtedly become your specific enemies. Keep a special eye out for those with a
history of mental instability to ties to organized crime.

Medline Plus. 2006. Injuries and wounds. Available at

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/injuriesandwounds.html (Accessed
December 8, 2007).

In the course of your activities, you are likely to suffer both minor and severe injuries.
This website contains links to information on various types of injuries, as well as first aid
information that could be valuable in the case of an emergency, such as when you incur
severe bruising from a fight with your latest nemesis.
Medline Plus. 2006. Mental health and behavior. Available at
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/mentalhealthandbehavior.html
(Accessed December 8, 2007).

Many of the criminals you deal with will be verifiably insane. It is necessary for you to
be aware of the symptoms of various mental health problems and able to identify them in
your opponents. It is also good to be aware of your own mental health to avoid dangerous
obsessions.

National Missing and Unidentified Persons System. 2007. Unidentified decedent

reporting system. Available at http://www.identifyus.org/?p=search
(Accessed December 9, 2007).

This will help you find out if the individual you’re looking for has turned up dead. It’s
nice to hope for the best, but it’s best to do a little investigation anyway.

National Weather Service. 2007. NOAA’s National Weather Service. Available at

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/ (Accessed December 9, 2007).

This government webpage contains weather information and forecasts. Remember to

keep an eye on the projected weather. If there’s going to be a heavy fog while you’re
tracking a dangerous criminal or the biggest snow storm in twenty years while you fight a
lunatic on a high-rise apartment building, you’ll want to know.

State of New York. 2007. Laws of New York. Available at

http://public.leginfo.state.ny.us/menugetf.cgi (Accessed December 8, 2007).

Your new project will require a keen understanding of the law, especially the sections
Criminal Procedure (CPL). You may find CPL 140.30-140.40 particularly useful as they
include information on how to make a citizens’ arrest. Pay special attention to the
sections related to peace officers, should you choose to become a “fully deputized agent
of the law” (Batman: The Movie 1966).

State of New York: Department of Correctional Services. 2007. Inmate population

information search. Available at
http://nysdocslookup.docs.state.ny.us/kinqw00 (Accessed December 9, 2007).

This tool will help you find information on inmates in the state prison system. Like the
similar look-up tool for federal prisons, this will tell you if the Penguin has been released
for good behavior or worse, if the Joker has escaped again.

State of New York: Department of Motor Vehicles. 2007. Traffic safety tips.
Available at http://www.safeny.com/roadrule.htm (Accessed December 8,
2007).

These are the “rules of the road” that ensure that everyone is safe when using state
roadways. Keep these in mind when you’re out cruising in your brand new Bat-mobile.
The fact that the Joker’s getting away does not absolve you of using your turn signals.

United States Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board. 2007. CSB mission
and history. Available at http://www.csb.gov/index.cfm?
folder=Mission_History&page=index (Accessed December 9, 2007).

When ninjas have filled the city with gases that drive everyone crazy with fear, these are
the people who will investigate. They’re federal rather than local, so the local criminals
might not even have them in their pockets. It’s up to you whether you want to get in
contact with them.

United States Patent and Trademark Office. 2007. USPTO patent full-text and
image database. Available at http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/PTO/search-
bool.html (Accessed December 8, 2007).

You can search in this database for patent information. Many of your foes will have
invented fiendish devices and, like all villains, are eager to insure that their intellectual
property is protected, so that others cannot market their products. This could be useful if
you ever need to find out who holds the patent for exploding sharks.