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Chicomm Blog

3 Trends Shaping the Future of Law Enforcement

Posted by Jill McNamara on Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Technologies in Next Generation Patrol Vehicles

Motorola Solutions has done more than 5 years of focused research, with hundreds of ride-a-longs, focus groups, simulations and usability studies to help understand the need for police cruisers to bring critical information together in an automatic and intuitive way. Research shows users want vehicle controls that are integrated and easy to use so that actions flow quickly and intuitively when responding to an incident.

Other research findings:

  • 89% of public safety decision makers say data is just as critical as voice.
  • 93% of officer misconduct charges are overturned by video evidence
  • When captured on video, 90% of cases the defendants plead out.
  • Customer surveys reveal:  most public safety laptop users don’t actually remove laptops for use outside the vehicle 

     Those findings lead to the 3 trends shaping public safety officers when they are on the road: 

  • Broadband- wireless technologies give personnel access to more information at their fingertips at a faster rate
  • In car video- this is quickly becoming a necessity with both mobile and fixed options to suit flexibility needs in the field environment. The video interface is designed for touchscreen use and has no exterior mechanical changes (same footprint)
  • Vehicular evolution and ergonomics- Police cruisers becoming smaller while there are more technology choices to deploy like ALPR & real-time wireless video sharing poses a challenge. A PTT button has been added to the steering wheel and trunks must be utilized.

   In addition, the next generation public safety vehicles are suited with a 'Ten Second Rewind' feature. This technology has generated a lot of interest because if the officer suspects an incident just occurred, say, if a car just ran a red light, the officer can press a single button to see immediate playback of what is in the video pre-buffer and take action if necessary. That way if the law was indeed broken the officer can initiate recording and capture the pre-buffer; while if the officer’s suspicions were incorrect, they press another button to ignore initiating recording. (In comparison the current or old method – used by competitors today – is: Start a recording. Stop the recording. Find the recording. View the recording. Confirm that an infraction occurred. THEN, assuming the offender is still in the same city/county, go find them.)

And that's only a look at some of the equipment used inside the car. Take a tour of technologies designed for the law enforcement officers themselves in an interactive demonstration on Motorola Solutions' website (Make sure to view 'Solution Tour' and give the site a minute or two to load all of the interactive features). 

    These tools all work towards increasing efficiency by letting officers complete work tasks from the field. Which is your favorite feature of these technologies? Are there other needs of police officers that haven't been addressed? Use the comment box below to let us know!

 

Public Safety Communication Checklist

 

Chicago Communications, LLC has been a trusted Motorola Solutions Channel Partner for over 50 years. We enable our customers to achieve their mission and improve their operational performance by providing them with a portfolio of solutions customized to fit their individual needs. For more information regarding communications equipment or topics discussed in this article, contact us.