Does anyone have info about the computer systems in police patrol vehiches?
I know they have some cool wireless capabilities,i also wonder why these wireless systems haven’t been made availiable to the general public.
Any links or info would be appreciated.
http://www.panasonic.com/toughbook
Toughbooks and other industrial computers are avalable to the general public. You just won’t find them at your local consumer electronics megastore., because those places mostly sell popular and/or inexpensive computers.
http://www.panasonic.com/toughbook
Toughbooks and other industrial computers are avalable to the general public. You just won’t find them at your local consumer electronics megastore., because those places mostly sell popular and/or inexpensive computers.
The term to search for (in addition to ‘wireless’, if that’s what you want) is 'ruggedized".
Thte system that our friendly boys-in-blue use is called (by them) “Packet.” It works off of certain cell towers and antennas in our area, I don’t know exactly how, though. IIRC, it’s made by Motorola, but the closest thing I could find was this:
http://www.motorola.com/publicsafety/40-40-10.shtml
Looks like it works exactly the same as ours does, so I’m going to go out on a limb here and say this is the system that our PD uses. I could be entirely wrong, though…
Toughbook? Packet?
Whatever happened to SCMODS?
IANAC
Most police departments now use cellular modems. Wireless companies will sell the department an unlimited usage contract for a set fee, usually $200 per month.
Patrol cars are usually hooked up to a system known a REJIS or REgional Jurisdiction Information System. This is a database which contains all of the plates information for the state, pending warrents, social security numbers, and the like.
When I was working as a network installer, I had a chance to see the system in use at a 911 dispatch center. It’s all very low-tech really. Uses a VT-100 style interface. This is good for a couple of reasons. The machines that work with it don’t have to be very powerful. The systems are ultra fast since it’s mostly raw ASCII text being passed along. And most importantly is ultra reliable since it’s “Proven” technology.
Some of the newer cruisers I’ve seen are starting to use GPS intergration with REJIS allowing officers to more easily coordinate “attacks” on criminals. Very cool stuff.