Mobile Officers Armed With More Data

Law enforcement officers have a tough job to do. The more help we can give them, the better. For any officer, access to criminal and motor vehicle databases for flagging outstanding arrest warrants or stolen vehicle reports, for example, is an important tool. That kind of data can now accompany officers anywhere, even when they're not in a patrol car.

Mobile officers - whether on foot, on a motorcycle or undercover - can now look up license plates, photos, driver's license info and other data, all from smartphones they carry with them. Prior to this, if officers needed such information, they'd either have to be in a patrol car with a laptop or they'd have to radio in to dispatch. Now they can access the info they need themselves, much more quickly.

Sprint, the BlackBerry® solution and BIO-key® International are giving officers in Franklin County, Ohio, more mobile information than they've ever had before. BIO-key designed the Sprint PocketCop® mobile application to work with BlackBerry smartphones, giving officers more data on the go.

Detective Austin Francescone has been with the Franklin County Sheriff's Office for 10 years. The undercover officer was immediately impressed with the combined solution of Sprint, PocketCop and the BlackBerry solution. "Law enforcement has to embrace technology and use it to our advantage," he said. "PocketCop on the BlackBerry smartphone is small, portable, and it helps me be more effective in the field."

While the Sprint wireless network provides reliable service, the lightweight, multifunctional BlackBerry smartphones give officers all-in-one capability they didn't have before. The BlackBerry smartphones eliminate the need to carry several devices, such as cell phones, pagers, PDAs and laptops. The new system gives officers secure, over-the-air access to law enforcement and motor vehicle databases.

More Data Instantly
The Franklin County Sheriff's Office serves a population of 1.7 million people from the county seat in Columbus. The Sheriff's Office was chosen as the lead agency in the deployment.

With a grant from the Department of Homeland Security, the deployment's goal was to find the best way to ensure law enforcement officers have wireless access to police databases, such as the Ohio Law Enforcement Automated Data System and the National Crime Information Center (NCIC).

In addition to Franklin County Sheriff's officers and investigators, the system now serves users in the FBI's Columbus office, the Metropolitan Parks Division, and Ohio State University, as well as the Columbus Police Department and other local law enforcement agencies. Today, 30 PocketCop-enabled BlackBerry smartphones are in use by patrol deputies, undercover detectives, FBI agents, and parks and university security teams.

The small size and extended battery life of the BlackBerry smartphone are just two of many benefits. The solution also lightens the load on radio systems and dispatchers, and the BlackBerry smartphones are intuitive and easy to use. Access to more information in the field is invaluable, making the solution an extremely cost-effective aid to law enforcement agencies.

"I can do anything from my BlackBerry smartphone that an officer can do in a police cruiser," said Francescone. "I can see what officers are on duty, send them messages, run license plates and stolen vehicles, and determine whether individuals are dangerous."

An Everyday Aid
Officers like the fact that they can quickly check information themselves. For example, Francescone finds it useful when executing search warrants, which often involve numerous agencies. "I use my BlackBerry smartphone and PocketCop to pull up the auditor's property database Web site and see the picture of the house at the address we're at," he said. "I can send my colleagues the link to the page, while we're all onsite, so there's no confusion about which house we're about to enter."

Officers can search a person's name and receive an