Instant messaging isn't just for students anymore.
ASU police will soon be sending and receiving messages on computers recently installed in their patrol cars.
The in-car computers are a hallmark of a new $1.3 million system that will not only change the way dispatchers communicate with officers in the field but also ease the flow of information from an initial call to the filing of an officer's report.
"This system will do everything we need it to," said Mike Priolo, a DPS assistant communications supervisor.
Part of the system was paid for by a $100,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Security. The rest of the funding was approved by the Arizona Board of Regents as an expense outside of DPS's normal budget.
Priolo said parts of the system are operational now, and the system should be fully functional by mid-October.
When fielding a 9-1-1 call, information that dispatchers type into their computers will be transmitted via a wireless network directly to a laptop in the responding patrol car.
The in-car computer also "allows the officers a lot more freedom," said DPS Commander Mark Roberts. Officers will soon be able to check license numbers, search for outstanding warrants, generate report and case numbers, and even write incident reports on their in-car computers.
After the second phase of the update, DPS will be able to track the locations of patrol vehicles by computer.
"We'll be able to watch patrol cars, where they're going, on our screen," Priolo said.
Previously, officers used a word-processing program to type up reports. Information on incidents from the West and Polytechnic campuses was forwarded to the Tempe campus for cataloguing, said Karon Zimpfer, DPS records and communications manager.
Now, all reports will be filed and held electronically, and information will be easier for officers to access than in the past.
Zimpfer said the Homeland Security grant was awarded to help DPS enhance communication among police on ASU's three campuses and with surrounding cities.
With the new system, "if we contact someone at the main campus, [and] the next day if he's contacted at the east campus, that information is [already] in the system," Zimpfer said.
Priolo said the new system will also "interface with the University ... system that keeps track of all the chemicals on campus," allowing officers to access and dispatchers to pass along information about the hazardous materials kept in any given room on campus.
The new technology will initially be in the hands of officers who patrol by car, but Priolo said DPS is looking into purchasing handheld devices that would allow officers on a bicycle patrol to access the system from the field.
Reach the reporter at brian.indrelunas@asu.edu.
