The Associated Press
RIO RANCHO, N.M. (AP) -- Rio Rancho police officers are getting a new crime fighting tool.
The city has spent $75,000 on new super-duty laptops that will be mounted in 50 police cruisers initially, then in the entire police fleet.
“These are going to enable us to do a lot,” Rio Rancho Department of Public Safety spokesman John Francis said. “Our officers will be able to access the National Crime Information Center from their cars, conduct silent dispatch operations and even print out tickets on the spot.”
Francis said code enforcement and animal control vehicles will eventually get the new computers, too.
The computers will be installed in the police cruisers and the department will be running silent dispatch operations by next month. Access to NCIC information will begin in December.
The new computers might also boost recruitment of new officers, Francis said.
“We are becoming a state-of-the-art department with high standards and people will want to come work for us,” he said.