The News Room [News Release] Sheriff Contact: John Roach: 313-224-0615 Palm-size computers give deputies access to warrant info, mug shots and much more
The Wayne County Sheriff's Office is embarking upon a mini-technological revolution in its hunt for wanted criminals. The "mini" however, refers to the size of the technology, not it's considerable potential impact on the department, according to Sheriff Warren Evans.
Typically, a patrol officer uses a computer terminal in his or her car that has access to the Law Enforcement Information Network (LEIN), to run the vehicle's license plate and to check for outstanding warrants. If an officer has no LEIN terminal, he or she must radio into a dispatch center for the same limited information. The Blackberries, with their access to a greater range of data, make them a powerful tool. The Sheriff's Office, for example, maintains an ever-growing database of more than 100,000 arrest and jail photos taken by deputies and officers from other local police departments. Evans said a recent example highlights the Blackberry's potential. During a countywide warrant sweep conducted in March, sheriff's deputies and Southgate officers walked into a room looking for John Rail, who was wanted for failing to show for court on a drunken driving charge. "When they walked into the location, the officers were looking at a room full of people." To avoid confusion or a possible mis-identification, Evans said, one officer pulled out his Blackberry, typed in Rail's name and date of birth and in seconds was staring at Rail's mug shot from his original drunken driving arrest by Southgate officers. "That easily, officers picked the suspect out of the crowd and took him into custody," Evans said. When his department receives the rest of the devices, Evans said he plans to deploy them to units where officers typically can't have a computer, such as the mounted, marine and motorcycle patrols, as well as specialty units like narcotics. "When our officers raid a suspected drug house, there often are a lot of people inside, many of whom have warrants or may be under orders of probation to stay out of drug houses," Evans said. "With these handheld computers, we can easily verify the identity of everyone inside the house and determine whether we need to arrest them. This technology will make our department a lot more efficient." The new handheld computers represent the latest in a series of technological improvement's Evans has instituted recently. Last year, the Sheriff's Office switched over to an all digital inmate booking system to more easily retrieve photos and data related to the more than 40,000 individuals who get booked into one of the county's three jails each year. That system has been extended to a growing number of local police departments, which now can input and retrieve records of their own. Evans also secured a grant that will allow the department to start equipping its vehicles with in-car video and new LEIN computers. ### |
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Warren
C. Evans
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The Sheriff's Office recently obtained a grant from the US Department of Justice that is allowing it to purchase fifteen handheld computers – Blackberry PDAs – that are programmed to let officers to retrieve a rapidly growing amount of data and view it in the palm of his or her hand. Currently, that information includes outstanding warrants, mug shots and criminal histories, but soon may include court records, prison records access to information kept by other police agencies around the state. The department is testing five of the devices and will receive the rest in the next couple of months.