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Published on 07/22/1996 All articles from this issue

Software ready for police car laptops, officers anticipate 'exciting change'

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By Joanne Griffith Domingue / Town Crier Staff Writer

The software is ready, the hardware is nearly ordered and by summer's end Los Altos Police expect to have their mobile, cellular laptop computers installed in the department's 10 patrol cars.

Los Altos will be one of only two law enforcement agencies in the state to have these mobile cellular units.

Gilroy is the other, said Los Altos Police Capt. Cliff Balch.

This will enable officers, during a vehicle stop, to "put the license numbers through to see if the car is stolen without imposing on the dispatchers," Balch said. "The officer could also check the car registration and see if there are any warrants."

The cellular connections will tie the laptops into the local, county, state and federal law enforcement databases.

The patrol car laptops will be "acting as an access terminal for other main systems," Balch said.

During a vehicle stop, "the more information you have the more intelligent a decision you can make in how to handle the person."

"The software (made by Software Corporation of America in Connecticut) was already used on the East Coast and needed to be modified to be useful here," Balch said.

The software will use Microsoft Windows and "interface with pen, mouse and keyboard," said Mark Bruce with SCA.

"Police officers now have tools they never had before to perform their duties with speed, accuracy and without any human intervention," said Joseph J. Fuscaldo, vice president of sales and marketing for SCA.

Because this is a test site of the system by GTE Mobilnet and SCA, they are paying half the price of the system.

The cost to the city is $136,564, which the city council approved Jan. 23, 1996.

For hardware, originally the police looked at "ruggedized" computers, but the cost was prohibitive, Balch said.

Now they are looking at "more standard off-the-shelf models.

"We don't need many bells and whistles. But they (the computers) need to withstand a bit of a harsh environment," Balch said.

Once the computers are installed, he said, "It's going to be a really exciting change."