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Cyahoga County, Ohio

Cyahoga County, Ohio

OCT 95

Cuyahoga County in northeastern Ohio has begun using RAM's wireless network and laptop computers to reduce their need for law enforcement dispatchers and to speed up data communications among officers in the field. Cuyahoga Regional Information System (CRIS), a law enforcement agency providing computer services for 86 agencies in a nine county area, started wireless data communications last year. Currently, 11 law enforcement agencies are using the service, letting their officers tap into a network of databases, including the Law Enforcement Automated Data System (LEADS), which is maintained by the Ohio State Highway Patrol and the FBI's National Crime Information Center (NCIC). According to William Allen, manager of CRIS, 80 patrol cars are equipped with GRiD 1680 laptop computers and radio modems. "We considered equipping the cruisers with mobile data terminals, but found that we would have to redo all of our screen formats because of the screen size limitation with MDT's," said Allen. He added that laptops provide the officers with the versatility that MDT's cannot. "We can take the laptops out of the cruiser, go inside a house or building and complete a report. Those reports can be transmitted when the officer returns to the car, or if he has the portable modem, he can send the report right from the premises." When fully developed, Cuyahoga County's use of RAM's network will eventually support 400 laptops and will cost approximately $5 million. To control network costs, CRIS negotiated with RAM a flat monthly fee of $99 for unlimited use with each laptop. "That's fantastic for the police chiefs," said Allen, "because they know it's going to cost $1,200 per year to operate that one laptop. He knows exactly what he can afford." - Tod Newcombe

Harris County, Texas This wireless explosion is creating problems for E-911 systems. Cellular phones - and the emerging PCS systems - have no location, no address. When a 911 call arrives, the calltaker must have the caller give a specific location, which is the problem E-911 systems were designed to solve. "Our concern as an emergency service provider is to be able to give the same response time as in a wired environment," said Steve Proctor, president of the Associated Public Safety Communications Officials, or APCO, which has been pushing for a resolution to the situation. Some solutions to this situation are being formulated and assessed by the cellular industry and emergency service providers, but few have moved from abstract discussion to developing an actual solution. One rapidly moving in that direction is the Greater Harris County 911 Emergency Network, which serves the Houston area. The jurisdiction, which is doing a multi-million dollar upgrade of its communications systems, plans to test a cellular call locater system next spring. The details of the system and exactly how it would function are still in the works, and discussions with development companies are ongoing. Greater Harris County is aiming for a system that would automatically determine the mobile telephone's longitude and latitude to an accuracy of about two feet.

Dave Pickett, the network's operations manager, said the system would use cellular base stations to determine location. While only one base station broadcasts a cellular call, there are enough stations in urban areas that several antennas sense the call. If at least three stations pick it up, an algorithm can be calculated based on the signal-receiving time differential at each base station. Once the location has been calculated by computers, the call is switched to the proper PSAP. A map indicating the location of the call would be generated within three-to-four seconds at the dispatcher's desk, and emergency crews are sent to the scene. - Brian Miller





With more than 20 years of experience covering state and local government, Tod previously was the editor of Public CIO, e.Republic’s award-winning publication for information technology executives in the public sector. He is now a senior editor for Government Technology and a columnist at Governing magazine.