Info-Cop strengthens the long arm of the law

Wired on Friday: Last week I spent an hour sitting in a police car, not because I had done anything illegal but because I was…

Wired on Friday: Last week I spent an hour sitting in a police car, not because I had done anything illegal but because I was checking out a new software system many police officers across the country are using, writes Carol Power.

Before now, if a police officer wanted to check a vehicle registration number, he had to call a dispatcher who was hooked into a state system. The dispatcher would then verify the identity of the driver and radio the information to the police officer at the scene. This communication took several minutes.

With a new software program called Info-Cop, police officers can access in real-time federal, state and local crime databases over a wireless network from a car laptop or tablet, handheld PDA, or cell phone. The software, designed by GTBM Inc. Computers in Lyndhurst, New Jersey, can run six vehicle plates at one time and give responses in one to five seconds. All of the registered owner's information pops up on the computer screen including his name, address, date of birth, colour of eyes, weight and height. The system is linked into seven databases including the National Crime Information Centre which is run by the FBI, the state police and wanted persons systems. Info-Cop connects to the internet via Verizon's wireless emergency bandwidth.

Mr Stephen Batchelor, police officer at Rutherford, New Jersey's police department, is the IT director for the Borough of Rutherford which implemented Info-Cop one year ago.

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"We have a heightened level of awareness now when we stop a vehicle and run the plate," Mr Batchelor said. "We know if a person is wanted for murder or has done something heinous." Recently, when a car plate was flagged in a town on the Jersey shore, data obtained from Info-Cop showed the driver was wanted in connection with an assault in Bergen County in northern New Jersey. The police detained the suspect for questioning and, in his car, discovered the aluminium bat he had used in the assault.

"We're more informed than we were 10 years ago when we walked up to a car," said Mr Batchelor.

"There has been a tenfold improvement in officer safety and those things today are paramount. We call it a force multiplying tool because any officers who have the Info-Cop system are agents of ours."

Info-Cop is adding 10 to 12 new departments a month to its system and it has deployed over 6,000 units in nearly 200 law enforcement and emergency response agencies in New Jersey, Maryland, Oklahoma, Texas and Washington.

By pulling up certain screens on the computer, officers can issue a summons, warning or flag a suspect. "In the flag we could put in a note that says this person is known to be combative with law enforcement," Mr Batchelor said. "Everything we write is logged and viewable at the Bergen County prosecutor's office."

The Bergen County prosecutor's office hosts the server and precincts administer the software locally. For example, each police officer is assigned a username and password and can connect to Info-Cop in his car or at a computer at headquarters.

Before using Info-Cop, many police officers had access to a county system that was non-graphical, not touch-screen and had a small-sized screen that made information difficult to read.

GTBM also manufactures Info-Rescue, which is the fire fighter and emergency services version of Info-Cop.

It has all the functionality of Info-Cop, but without the ability to run a check on licence plates.

Users can chat online, message each other and run a hazardous material program which will tell them if a liquid spill is flammable.

It is offered complementary to customers who request it for their fire departments or ambulances. Each unit, fully installed and with a modem costs $6,500. Capt Tom Farrell in Rutherford said: "The cost was minor . We paid for it with grant money from the county."

Rutherford, situated eight miles west of New York City, has a police force of 43 officers and has deployed five Info-Cop units in its police cars.

In the first or second quarter of 2004, the town will become the first to pilot a separately mounted digital video camera that will sit above the Info-Cop tablet or notebook in a car.

The video camera will automatically grab a shot of a licence plate on a mobile unit and transpose it into the system for verification. "This is a first time anyone will attempt to do this from a moving vehicle," Mr Batchelor said.