NCJ Number
191792
Journal
Law and Order Volume: 49 Issue: 8 Dated: August 2001 Pages: 53-56
Date Published
August 2001
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the benefits of using mobile laptop computers in patrol cars, with examples cited from police agencies that have such systems.
Abstract
The Orlando Police Department (Florida) hired civilians as operators in a unit known as paperless automated computer entry (PACE). Street officers phone in reports to PACE operators, who immediately enter the information into the computer. PACE operators use forms to ask officers questions that the officer may forget to put in a report. Mobile computers have been installed in all the patrol cars. At any given time, 100 officers can communicate car-to-car and car-to-computer-aided dispatch; contact all cars on air at the same time; run wanted warrants through local, State, and national databases; and receive calls from dispatch. This reduces some of the radio traffic and also gives officers access to every report ever entered into the database. Aside from warrant checks and car-to-car messaging, mobile laptops furnish interdepartmental e-mail and display mug shots. One of the most significant problems faced by agencies that introduce computers in patrol cars is psychological, in that officers who have been accustomed to paper reports that they can hold and view require time to adapt to computerized reports.