“Wireless Policing” Puts City On Cutting Edge
St. Paul, Minn., Police Department Sgt. Tom Bergren views the force’s new wireless records management system as the future of police work.
The computer software system recently enabled Bergren, who works in the department’s auto theft unit, to begin working on police reports of high-speed motorcycle chases almost immediately, and helped him make connections to a case involving a motorcycle ring and ultimately allowed him to break the case quickly.
Bergren says he eventually would have solved the case, but it likely would have taken a few more days if he had to wait for paper-based police reports of the incidents to be filed.
With the new wireless records management system, St. Paul police can electronically submit, file, read, approve, sort, and distribute reports from the field within minutes.
The St. Paul Police Department launched the new computer system in February, and has placed 160 laptops in squad cars so officers can electronically file or read reports, or search the records management system for names, addresses, stolen or recovered items, types of crimes, and locations of incidents.
The police department had Artemis Alliance build the wireless records management system with the idea of integrating the software system into the long-awaited statewide CriMNet system, which would connect the communications and records systems of Minnesota’s criminal justice agencies.
Some $650,000 in federal grants helped make the software system a reality, and a number of police agencies in the area have shown an interest in the electronic records system.
The St. Paul police department is considering selling the software or licensing it to other law enforcement agencies.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from the Minneapolis Star Tribune (04/12/03); Estrada, Heron Marquez.
