Baltimore cops get PocketCops
Patrol officers have long complained they're short-staffed, so now Baltimore's police commissioner is giving them a another cop in their pocket.
BlackBerrys armed with an application called PocketCop that allows them to quickly search for outstanding arrests warrants, pull up mug shots and arrest histories. It could replace computers in police cars (an endeavor that in the city has historically failed. Most officers don't have computers in cars or the ones they do have don't work). At left, Sgt. Shawn Edwards uses the device during a demonstration in a photo taken by the AP.
I would love to hear back from police officers who are or who are going to use this.
Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III says this could help get cops out of their patrol cars and into the community, now that they're taking their work stations with them. But this device also allows the bosses to do something else -- using GPS, they can track the locations of officers, and already have used it during a test phase in the Western District to see whether officers were properly deployed when a person got shot.
I can see defense attorneys drooling!
Already, the Baltimore Police Department's Facebook page is lighting up with comments from the community and cops. Any new technology should help city police, who have long lagged behind their suburban counterparts who have computers in cars, direct access to the same screens that 911 dispatchers have (a patrol officer in Anne Arundel County can watch as a 911 operator types in an emergency call and can scroll through the text to get absorb all the information).
The department is using $3.5 million in federal stimulus money to pay for this for 2,000 patrol officers; it's not clear how they will pay next year.
Categories: Confronting crime, Top brass
Comments
The whining about have a GPS unit to track what (if anything) a police is doing during his shift is silly. The only way that the crime problem is going to be improved in the city is to have police doing their job and not just driving around or sitting in their car for 8 hours. You would think that if the police really wanted to make a difference in this uphill battle that they and their union would be celebrating this move that gives them technology to do their job better and more efficiently.
Posted by: Geoff | September 3, 2009 9:18 AM
Yayyy! I think this is great! Police officers need all the support and resources we can provide, especially city cops. Crime is getting more complex and unpredictable every day. Being a police officer is a tough, tough job and my hat goes off to them!
Next thing Baltimore needs are Animal Cops - We could set up a division and then pay for it by going on Animal Planet.
Posted by: Karen G. | September 3, 2009 10:23 AM
Stimulus money?......are you kidding me?
How are $1700 Blackberry's a stimulant to the economy? Personally, I like the idea of a handheld tool to access information, but I doubt that this money is being spent wisely. Is this the best deal they could come up with? Whatever happened to quantity discounts? Maybe somebody should follow the money trail.
Economic stimulus......hah.
Posted by: signtopia | September 4, 2009 12:27 AM
DON'T THE CITY POLICE STAY ON THE PHONES ENOUGH???? WE WONDER WHY CRIME IS UP??? I SEE MANY OFFICERS(ESPECIALLY WOMEN)ON THERE PHONES. WHILE SITTING IN THE CARS, STANDING ON STREET CORNERS AND AT THE MCDONALD'S (ON MULBERRY STREET)WHO MUCH IS THAT COSTING THE CITY???? WHO CARES IT'S FOR THE POLICE DEPARTMENT. HOW ABOUT TAKE THE PHONES AND KEEP THE HORSES!!!!!!!
Posted by: UNCLEOLLIE | September 8, 2009 11:41 AM
Someone beat me to it.
1700 for a Blackberry and program, for a year. 140 or so a month. Someone needs to look at that contract again. Most of the city is covered by Xohm. No not all, but a good potion of it. By the B-Berry's with connectivity, strike a deal with Xohm (sure they'd love the money to improve their network), and pay for the program. 200 a phone, 10-20 a month for Xohm, and, say 100k for the program (being generous there). Looking at.....980k for the first year, 480k a year after, so you have, say, 6 years of the program for the same amount of money.
Really, get new people writing these proposals and contracts.
Posted by: Grady | September 11, 2009 6:44 AM