Monday, April 29, 2002

The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office is seeking a consultant to recommend new technology to replace 30-year-old data terminals now in patrol cars.

Bids from consultants are due May 21 and a contract should be signed by August, said Col. Bruce Frumoff, the sheriff's director of administration.

The project began two years ago, but stalled during the last months in office of the previous sheriff. Former Sheriff Bob Neumann set aside $7.6 million for the new technology, and that money has been carried forth in budgets.

The money would be partly used to buy 700 to 1,000 car-mounted terminals, laptops or hand-held computers to give all road patrol deputies and investigators instant access to databases. Dispatchers and supervisors could also send written messages to patrol cars, bypassing radio communications.

Now, less than 300 patrol cars have the mobile data terminals and the design is so outdated replacements are no longer manufactured.

New mobile technology allows deputies to send and receive photos of missing persons or suspects, fingerprints and eye scans. Magnetic strips on driver licenses could be swiped in a car-mounted scanner, checking the driver's record or downloading the information onto an electronically generated accident report or citation.

Transponders that pinpoint a patrol car's location could also be part of the technology.

"This system is a tremendous asset," said County Commission Chairman Warren Newell. "It helps the deputy on the road become a more efficient investigator and crime-fighter."

Frumoff said the first applications will be a new computer-aided dispatch system, the heart of sheriff's emergency operations.

Records handling would also be upgraded as well as transferring booking and arrest data to the county clerk's office.

Although the cost of upgrades had previously been estimated at more than $15 million, Frumoff said lower costs of technology could reduce the final cost to $10 million or less.

Equipment could be installed with 18 to 24 months, he said.

Palm Beach Post

-- Anonymous, May 02, 2002