Personal Digital
Assistants Making their Mark on the Street
Police and Law Enforcement News
Thursday, March 22, 2006 5:21 p.m.
Technology continues to improve the
way we do our job each day. The latest story is out of
Memphis, Tennessee.
Last year, officers with the Memphis
PD were equipped with personal digital assistants or
PDA's. The goal was for the PDA's to reduce the amount of time
necessary for officers to spend on non crime-related activities like
reports. No one was sure if the PDA would help the
those in
the field, but it's now been a year since their inception.
Today, members and the agency are
giving high marks to the personal digital assistant.
Instead of using notepads to record
information only to bring it back to the station to be rewritten or
typed, officers are actually doing the reports while interviewing
the complainants or citizens.
One officer told WREG Memphis, "I can do a report that would take me
an hour, I can do it in ten minutes." Another followed
up with, "I don't have to go back and rewrite everything from my
notepad."
Administrators are crediting the PDA with saving the agency in
overtime costs since officers don't end up staying over as much for
reports.
Now, the
officers can spend more time on calls, more time on the street, and
more time with the community.
The PDA's
have even reduced radio traffic as officers can now pull up computer
information including warrants on suspects right over the device.
Right now
the department is paying $40.00 per month for each device in
subscription fees. The actual PDA devices were donated by
Verizon.
Police and Law Enforcement News
Thursday, March 22, 2006 5:21 p.m.
Memphis Officers Using PDA's |
