Smaller departments, however, must be resourceful in choosing technologies that give them the performance boost they seek, while staying within budget and staffing parameters.
Next-generation wireless services, such as Enhanced Data for Global Environments (EDGE) technology, help smaller agencies and businesses ride the technology wave.
Small Town Force
Denham Springs, La., population 10,000, is roughly 13 miles northeast of Baton Rouge. The Denham Springs Police Department (DSPD) has a small force of 16 full-time patrol officers, three traffic officers, three detectives and 10 reserve officers. On any given shift, four officers are in the field manning squad cars and covering approximately six square miles of geographic area. At a ratio of one sworn officer per roughly every 2,500 citizens, officers must move fast while still handling crime incidents thoroughly and effectively.
Because of ongoing funding support from city leaders, the DSPD is familiar with the benefits of wireless data and applications. For nearly a year, squad cars have been outfitted with mobile information technology that gives officers access to the department's incident reporting system and the ability to query the National Crime Investigation Center (NCIC) database.
"Our mayor and council realize our mobile system helps keep our officers in the field safe, and they've been tremendously supportive of our wireless initiatives," said Jeffrey Wesley, Denham Springs' chief of police.
Fitting Department Needs
The DSPD had a working mobile reporting system, but as needs grew, the system had two essential drawbacks: speed and coverage. The previous network cards ran up to 19.2 Kbps -- fine for basic functions but not fast enough for more sophisticated applications, such as transmitting driver's license photos or complete criminal histories.
The mobile system's coverage area was also limited, significantly restricting officers' ability to stay connected to the incident-reporting and NCIC servers.
Cingular provided the police department with wireless voice services for many years. Wesley said he was intrigued by EDGE technology, but any new system needed to fit the department's budget. It also had to be easy to implement and support.
"Our IT department consists of one highly capable sworn officer, Sgt. Shannon Womack, who doubles as technology manager," Wesley said.
Cingular proposed the DSPD test a new mobile access system that would run on the company's GPRS/EDGE network and use EDGE-enabled wireless PC card modems.
"The trial was a big success," said Womack, adding that the new cards allowed speeds as much as 10 times faster than previous cards.
Wesley said when he saw the higher speed and performance of the DSPD's mobile reporting system working on the EDGE network, he knew it was an investment worth making.
"Our officers have to make split-second critical decisions in the field ,and their lives can often depend on the responses they get from NCIC, like information on a stolen vehicle or wanted person. If we can get that response to them one second faster, they'll be that much better prepared to handle potential life-and-death situations," Wesley said.
A Tricky Switch
Changing to EDGE technology was not as simple as merely swapping PC cards in and out of mobile devices. One particular challenge was that accessing the NCIC database via the Internet requires that each unit have a static Internet protocol (IP) address for security purposes.
To solve the problem, Cingular worked with Padcom, a software company with experience in public safety technologies. Padcom already developed static IP capability for public safety customers, and also designed features that allowed the DSPD's new system to power on the wireless PC card, and connect and reconnect automatically, eliminating the need for an officer to negotiate multiple logons in the field.
"Being relatively new to wireless technology, I was apprehensive about the transition at first," Womack said. "But Cingular and Padcom walked me through installing Padcom's TotalRoam software in a day, and I was able to get 20 laptops up and running in less than three days."
In addition to the new EDGE cards and middleware, the team implemented rooftop antennas connected directly to the PC card to help boost coverage and eliminate possible interference from radio and radar guns.
Faster, Better, More Affordable
The city outfitted all full-time sworn officers with the new system and is planning to expand to its reserve force. The department now processes field reports and obtains critical information more quickly.
"We've had such a good result with this deployment that the city is also looking into extending EDGE-based mobile access to its fire and public works fleets," said Wesley. "The best part of it is that we're making the job safer for our officers while improving service for the citizens of Denham Springs, and we're doing it without having to scramble for resources or ask for more budget."
