By Kristin Davis
Virginian-Pilot
NORFOLK, Va. — The victim speaks only Spanish. The officer who responds knows only English. A dispatcher scrambles to find an available, on-duty officer fluent in both.
Chesapeake police say that’s the old way of doing things. Starting next month, all patrol officers will be able to instantly access such information on laptops inside cruisers.
They’ll also be able to zero in on police with other specialties from a resource list: accident investigators, canine officers, Breathalyzer operators and those trained to use defibrillators.
Calls for service will be dispatched over the radio as well as laptops, cutting down on chatter and miscommunication, said Maj. Tim Breslin. “What a dispatcher has on a computer will be seen on a screen in the car.”
Patrol officers can quickly pull up property owner information and access a short history of calls for service at a particular address. They can call up directions. And if the radio failed , the new system would serve as backup.
Supervisors will be able to keep track of officers at all times - whether they are on a call , whether they are in their vehicle or outside it and for how long.
Those are just some of the benefits of Mobile Data System, the latest part of a two-year project that has also given Chesapeake police the ability to transmit reports from their cars to headquarters, Breslin said. Up next: bar coding evidence.
A $993,500 Justice Department grant is paying for the project.
Breslin calls the Mobile Data System “the most exciting aspect as far as affecting officers on the street.”
Ginger Bailey, a dispatch supervisor, said the system provides an added measure of safety for police. If they are walking into a situation where weapons have recently been involved, they’ll know it, she said.
For dispatchers, the system means “a lot of pressure off. We do so much multitasking.”
Kristin Davis, (757) 222-5208,
kristin.davis@pilotonline.com Those are just some of the benefits of Mobile Data System, the latest part of a two-year project that has also given Chesapeake police the ability to transmit reports from their cars to headquarters, Breslin said. Up next: bar coding evidence.
A $993,500 Justice Department grant is paying for the project.
Breslin calls the Mobile Data System “the most exciting aspect as far as affecting officers on the street.”
Ginger Bailey, a dispatch supervisor, said the system provides an added measure of safety for police. If they are walking into a situation where weapons have recently been involved, they’ll know it, she said.
For dispatchers, the system means “a lot of pressure off. We do so much multitasking.”
Copyright 2009 Virginian-Pilot