NCJ Number
210476
Journal
Law Enforcement Technology Volume: 32 Issue: 6 Dated: June 2005 Pages: 122,124,127
Date Published
June 2005
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article describes the City of Everett Police Department’s (Washington) use of wireless networking to connect patrol cars and beat officers to headquarters.
Abstract
Typically, law enforcement agencies lack the resources and technologies to provide beat officers with network access to information while they are in the field. The City of Everett Police Department, however, made the investment with the help of a National Institute of Justice (NIJ) grant that enabled them to connect 10 patrol cars and 22 beat officers to headquarters via high-speed connections. Officers can send and receive voice, video, and data at approximately 11 megabits per second wirelessly. This gives officers in the field immediate access to information about registered sex offenders and outstanding warrants, not to mention the capability to send and receive e-mail and access scheduling and management tools from their patrol car. A new Interoperability Grant from NIJ has enabled the department to plan for the deployment of wireless services in another 76 police cars and 24 fire department vehicles by the end of 2005. Additionally, all Everett police officers will have access to the Seattle-based Law Enforcement Exchange Network (LInX) via desktop computer by the end of summer 2005, further improving law enforcement connectivity. Finally, the functioning of Everett’s “police car of the future” during a recent bank robbery is described. Once the connectivity of Everett’s police officers is complete, the city plans to offer the same level of connectivity to all city employees. Exhibits