Crime Fighting Goes High-Tech
The Chesterfield Police Department in Michigan has purchased TACNET, a high-tech system that allows police officers to use voice commands to activate numerous functions, including radios, license plate checks, radar, flashing lights, and sirens. The aim of the system is to enhance police officers’ ability to respond to calls and communicate with other departments.
The system obviates the need for all of the normal unwieldy police equipment that is kept in the cab of a patrol car. Instead, the equipment is operated through a computerized dashboard-mounted liquid crystal display unit that is as small as a laptop computer screen.
One of TACNET’s more prominent features is that officers can communicate with up to five departments or outlets at once, via the system’s five radio systems. The system also allows officers to view information without taking their eyes off the road, which improves safety.
The Chesterfield Police Department may also soon have access to the Computer-Aided Dispatch system, which allows police, detectives, and firefighters to share the same information on computer screens that dispatchers transmit.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from the Detroit News (04/08/05) P. 5D; Schabath, Gene .