NCJ Number
177451
Journal
Law and Order Volume: 47 Issue: 3 Dated: March 1999 Pages: 30-32
Editor(s)
B W Cameron
Date Published
1999
Length
3 pages
Annotation
To reduce crime, the 1,500-officer department of Cleveland in northeast England has deployed technology for everything from dispatching to foot patrol.
Abstract
In 1993 the Cleveland police force was the first emergency service outside the United States to introduce a map-based interactive Command and Control computer system linked to mobile dispatching. The heart of the system is an intelligent map and gazetteer of the whole area policed by the force. The system further prepares details of all officers available and their individual assignments for each tour of duty. The system keeps track of locations and assignments for efficient dispatching as well as for the individual officers' welfare and safety. Overall, the objectives of the technology package are to accurately record the locations of incidents and police resources, match the most appropriate resource to each of these incidents, maintain a log of all activities against elapsed time, and provide patterns of occurrences to assist in the best deployment of resources for future policing. The system has seven components: Duty Management, Call-taking, Dispatching, Geographic Information System, Mobile Data Terminals, Automatic Resources Location, and Management Information/Analysis. Each of these components is described in this article.