NYPD Plans To Install GPS In Patrol Vehicles; The Chief Newspaper
Could Speed Dispatch And Aid Officers In Unfamiliar Areas By REUVEN BLAU
The NYPD is developing a plan to place high-tech Global Positioning Systems in its patrol vehicles to help improve emergency response times and bolster officer safety during car chases and other emergencies.
The GPS devices will also enable department supervisors to better monitor the location of the squad cars and track how fast the vehicles are moving prior to accidents or other incidents.
Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said the NYPD was working with the city's technology department on the plan, but declined to elaborate. The Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications is planning to place the Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) technology in much of the city's fleet of thousands of vehicles.
By all accounts, the NYPD's program is in its nascent stages, as it remains unclear what software the department plans to use to centralize the system and how the technology will be tied to the new 911 center that the city is currently moving to develop.
The Bloomberg administration has already installed the Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) devices in its ambulances and fire engines, and recently launched a pilot program for Sanitation Department collection trucks.
The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association declined to comment on the NYPD's plans. The planned system could also ultimately be used to discipline officers who are caught straying from their assigned posts or involved in speeding accidents.
An official from the Captains Endowment Association said the union had heard about the department's plan, and had no intentions of opposing the move. Several of the NYPD's other unions indicated that they were unaware of the GPS initiative.
A DoITT spokesman said the NYPD's program was still being worked out. "A lot of the details (extent of installation, types of AVL to be installed, different options for its use), however, are still being determined, as agencies decide whether/how AVL technology can assist in achieving their critical objectives in the field," said DoITT spokesman Nicholas T. Sbordone in an e-mail.
Discussing the NYPD's plan, he added, would therefore be premature. "The general vision, though, is to install AVL in appropriate city vehicles to enhance the quality of delivery of city services to New Yorkers," he added.
The AVL devices would likely be used to help reduce response times, boost employee safety, enhance fleet management and route planning, and detect vehicular problems for preventive maintenance.
In April 2006, the Fire Department installed AVL technology in nearly 1,100 of its ambulances, engines, ladder trucks, rescue and battalion vehicles. The program followed a successful EMS pilot that provided dispatchers with accurate data on the location of emergency vehicles, allowing them to improve dispatching operations, Mr. Sbordone said.
"Under that pilot, the average EMS response time to the most serious medical emergencies was reduced by 33 seconds," he added.
In total, 1,565 Fire and EMS vehicles throughout the city have been equipped with AVL, which cost nearly $50 million, according to the city. "In an emergency, every second counts," said Mayor Bloomberg after the plan was announced. "By providing our dispatcher with a real-time 'picture' of where resources are located, we'll get help where it's needed more quickly and efficiently. This is a great investment in the health and safety of all New Yorkers."
AVL uses standard GPS technology to track the real-time movements of equipped vehicles, helping dispatchers more accurately deploy emergency resources, the FDNY said.
Using a constellation of 24 satellites orbiting the earth, the AVL system combines GPS technology and street-level mapping to pinpoint the longitude, latitude and course direction of any equipped vehicle, the city said.
The AVL devices have proved particularly valuable in ambulances, because they are not dispatched from a central location and are able to move within their response areas, city official involved in the program said.
Police patrol cars work in a similar manner, responding to emergency calls on the basis of which officers nearby are available. That presents something of a contrast with the FDNY, which uses trained dispatchers to send specific units to each emergency. That may create problems for the NYPD, according to one union source, who asked to remain anonymous.
"It would be a real plus for the NYPD, but they don't have a real dispatch system," he said last week. "Basically all that money being spent is totally useless unless they change the whole concept on how they dispatch police cars."
Law-enforcement agencies across the nation have also been installing GPS devices in their patrol cars.
More than 130 Chicago police cars in the department's Special Operations Section have been equipped with the state-of-the-art system. That unit has been under close scrutiny after four officers from the division were charged with brazenly invading and robbing homes in a headline-grabbing case.
Locally, the Nassau County Police Department recently placed GPS devices in its roughly 230 vehicles "to enhance safety so that we have an idea of where our officers are at all times," said Detective Lieut. Kevin Smith. The system can also be used to make sure officers are patrolling the proper areas, he said. "There are benefits on a supervisory level as well," he remarked. "You can trace an officer's movements over time to see if there is any way he's neglecting his post by the path he takes."
He stressed that the program was primarily designed to increase officer safety. "If an officer gets in a pursuit and is unfamiliar with the terrain, we have mapping capabilities that can offer him assistance through our communication bureau," he said.
The technology has also been used as a new crime-fighting tool. Last year, the Los Angeles Police Department became the first law enforcement agency to equip patrol cars with a mechanism that thrusts and attaches a GPS device onto an escaping car. The LAPD hopes that device will help reduce the number of high-speed car chases throughout the city.
Michael J. Palladino, president of the Detectives Endowment Association, noted that the NYPD leases some of the cars undercover officers use, which could complicate the department's GPS plan. "They don't really look like department cars," he remarked. "I think technology as a whole can be a double-edged sword. It serves some good purposes, like safety issues, but it also borders on civil rights violations. People monitor where you are at all times."
Could Speed Dispatch And Aid Officers In Unfamiliar Areas By REUVEN BLAU
The NYPD is developing a plan to place high-tech Global Positioning Systems in its patrol vehicles to help improve emergency response times and bolster officer safety during car chases and other emergencies.
The GPS devices will also enable department supervisors to better monitor the location of the squad cars and track how fast the vehicles are moving prior to accidents or other incidents.
Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said the NYPD was working with the city's technology department on the plan, but declined to elaborate. The Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications is planning to place the Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) technology in much of the city's fleet of thousands of vehicles.
By all accounts, the NYPD's program is in its nascent stages, as it remains unclear what software the department plans to use to centralize the system and how the technology will be tied to the new 911 center that the city is currently moving to develop.
The Bloomberg administration has already installed the Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) devices in its ambulances and fire engines, and recently launched a pilot program for Sanitation Department collection trucks.
The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association declined to comment on the NYPD's plans. The planned system could also ultimately be used to discipline officers who are caught straying from their assigned posts or involved in speeding accidents.
An official from the Captains Endowment Association said the union had heard about the department's plan, and had no intentions of opposing the move. Several of the NYPD's other unions indicated that they were unaware of the GPS initiative.
A DoITT spokesman said the NYPD's program was still being worked out. "A lot of the details (extent of installation, types of AVL to be installed, different options for its use), however, are still being determined, as agencies decide whether/how AVL technology can assist in achieving their critical objectives in the field," said DoITT spokesman Nicholas T. Sbordone in an e-mail.
Discussing the NYPD's plan, he added, would therefore be premature. "The general vision, though, is to install AVL in appropriate city vehicles to enhance the quality of delivery of city services to New Yorkers," he added.
The AVL devices would likely be used to help reduce response times, boost employee safety, enhance fleet management and route planning, and detect vehicular problems for preventive maintenance.
In April 2006, the Fire Department installed AVL technology in nearly 1,100 of its ambulances, engines, ladder trucks, rescue and battalion vehicles. The program followed a successful EMS pilot that provided dispatchers with accurate data on the location of emergency vehicles, allowing them to improve dispatching operations, Mr. Sbordone said.
"Under that pilot, the average EMS response time to the most serious medical emergencies was reduced by 33 seconds," he added.
In total, 1,565 Fire and EMS vehicles throughout the city have been equipped with AVL, which cost nearly $50 million, according to the city. "In an emergency, every second counts," said Mayor Bloomberg after the plan was announced. "By providing our dispatcher with a real-time 'picture' of where resources are located, we'll get help where it's needed more quickly and efficiently. This is a great investment in the health and safety of all New Yorkers."
AVL uses standard GPS technology to track the real-time movements of equipped vehicles, helping dispatchers more accurately deploy emergency resources, the FDNY said.
Using a constellation of 24 satellites orbiting the earth, the AVL system combines GPS technology and street-level mapping to pinpoint the longitude, latitude and course direction of any equipped vehicle, the city said.
The AVL devices have proved particularly valuable in ambulances, because they are not dispatched from a central location and are able to move within their response areas, city official involved in the program said.
Police patrol cars work in a similar manner, responding to emergency calls on the basis of which officers nearby are available. That presents something of a contrast with the FDNY, which uses trained dispatchers to send specific units to each emergency. That may create problems for the NYPD, according to one union source, who asked to remain anonymous.
"It would be a real plus for the NYPD, but they don't have a real dispatch system," he said last week. "Basically all that money being spent is totally useless unless they change the whole concept on how they dispatch police cars."
Law-enforcement agencies across the nation have also been installing GPS devices in their patrol cars.
More than 130 Chicago police cars in the department's Special Operations Section have been equipped with the state-of-the-art system. That unit has been under close scrutiny after four officers from the division were charged with brazenly invading and robbing homes in a headline-grabbing case.
Locally, the Nassau County Police Department recently placed GPS devices in its roughly 230 vehicles "to enhance safety so that we have an idea of where our officers are at all times," said Detective Lieut. Kevin Smith. The system can also be used to make sure officers are patrolling the proper areas, he said. "There are benefits on a supervisory level as well," he remarked. "You can trace an officer's movements over time to see if there is any way he's neglecting his post by the path he takes."
He stressed that the program was primarily designed to increase officer safety. "If an officer gets in a pursuit and is unfamiliar with the terrain, we have mapping capabilities that can offer him assistance through our communication bureau," he said.
The technology has also been used as a new crime-fighting tool. Last year, the Los Angeles Police Department became the first law enforcement agency to equip patrol cars with a mechanism that thrusts and attaches a GPS device onto an escaping car. The LAPD hopes that device will help reduce the number of high-speed car chases throughout the city.
Michael J. Palladino, president of the Detectives Endowment Association, noted that the NYPD leases some of the cars undercover officers use, which could complicate the department's GPS plan. "They don't really look like department cars," he remarked. "I think technology as a whole can be a double-edged sword. It serves some good purposes, like safety issues, but it also borders on civil rights violations. People monitor where you are at all times."
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