Police departments are increasingly stretched — a driving factor in detectives and specialized staff called into frontline patrols.
Sometimes unaccustomed to the day-to-day equipment routine in high-pressure situations, these officers must be able to grab the equipment they need to be prepared for the demands of the street.
RFID-enabled systems offered through Zebra Technologies and Xemelgo streamline this process, ensuring equipment is tracked, available and accounted for, even for officers working in unfamiliar scenarios.
Rapid equipment deployment supported by RFID protects officers, strengthens operational efficiency and keeps communities safer.
Kerry Wicks, a U.S. Air Force veteran with 16 years in law enforcement and more than 20 years of government technology experience, understands the challenge. He is focused on developing public safety solutions at Zebra Technologies.
Wicks notes every law enforcement organization has different verticals encompassing many specialties.
When law enforcement is responding to emergencies or calls for service, many times the calls require different types of equipment to be readily available to help them respond.
Ready for the call
In today’s U.S. sociopolitical environment as well as in a disaster or weather response, officers may be called to assist in some situations in which they might not normally serve.
“When an officer is assigned to one of those particular units, it’s important to be certain they’re issued the correct equipment so they are well prepared when they have to respond to the particular call they’re having to support,” said Wicks.
“The ability to be certain they have the correct equipment to support them and their response to their community is paramount for the success of the agency as well as the community they serve.”
Example: If there are 100 boxes prepared for issuance over the subsequent 72 hours and the quartermaster typically works 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., supervisors with access can go to the room, retrieve a box, and as it goes past a fixed reader, it identifies that particular box went out the door at 3 a.m. The supervisor’s report would indicate at 3 a.m. an officer was issued special equipment for which documentation was signed.
Another example is a mutual aid agreement with a neighboring agency needing support in an emergency.
“I can look at the database and very quickly see who already has that equipment issued,” said Wicks. “Also, if there is some essential piece of equipment missing from a kit, it will identify that from a safety perspective. The accountability factor and the fact that an individual officer knows they have the proper equipment issued gives them the confidence to respond, which puts them in the right frame of mind as they’re approaching any situation.
“There may be special equipment held at the agency — whether it is a particular weapon in the armory or other equipment needed only for unique circumstances — they would be able to access quickly with accountability,” says Wicks.
‘You don’t need a line of sight to read it’
In addition to helping prepare officers for the unexpected, RFID also enables agencies to move beyond inventory control to officer safety, accountability and readiness as well as provide evidence tracking.
Garrett Gross is the director of growth at Xemelgo, where he leads go-to-market initiatives. His engineering background and hands-on experience in manufacturing and supply chain are driving factors in helping customers leverage technology for streamlined operations.
Gross explains RFID uses radio wave energy to grab enough power to energize a tiny microchip on tags, which contain a unique identifier and other information for the item. The metadata is stored in the cloud.
“With RFID, you don’t need line of sight to read it,” Gross said. “The scan rates on some of these handheld scanners and fixed readers can read up to 13,000 tags a second.”
That is useful in audits, where an entire gear room can be audited in less than three minutes, Gross points out, adding “if you’ve got something missing, instead of picking up every single item trying to read a serial number, you can use a Geiger Counter feature to find its exact location.” Depending on equipment size, a tag could be as small as a grain of rice, Gross notes, adding there is global standard for RFID tags with thousands of options.
Addressing the difference between RFID and a barcode, Gross points out barcode information is usually a SKU or product number that’s not unique whereas RFID is individually serialized.
Wicks points out that in asset management, the technology enables one to quickly identify who has checked out equipment; obtain alerts for items that are overdue or unreturned; flag gear out for repair or due for repair; and track the expiration dates of items such as body armor and body cams.
Gross notes there are several options for RFID readers such as fixed ones, mobile handheld readers and an RFID printer for tags and labels.
A reader scans all items in a single sweep, and the technology offers a live dashboard view of gear status, current user and alerts.
“In my organization, we had multiple locations and there were multiple different ways we had items stored,” Wicks noted. “We had some fenced yards, secured facilities, some not so secure, and we had thousands of items we were tracking. Being able to RFID tag those is a big help, particularly when you’re covering broad areas and large mass items.”
“A first step for an agency looking to incorporate RFID begins with examining the challenges an agency is currently facing and the potential benefits the agency is seeking to derive from the technology,” Gross says, “adding a consultation with Zebra and Xemelego can help develop the business case and identify the ROI. The two companies can work with an agency’s IT team to help it get up and running in a matter of weeks.”
For more information, visit Zebra.
