No MDT"S=No Sense

[Franky]

I work in a department with under 30 officers in a town under 10 sq. miles. We do get alot of through traffic at all times of the year and it really peaks in the summer. Our neighboring town that we work very closely with has all their patrol cars equipped with MDT's and as a result they get TONS of unregistered vehicles, suspended drivers, warrants, etc.
The town I work in has much more income then them and a much bigger budget. Our Chief refuses to get us even two units and says that they cost too much, bla bla.
The money these devices make for a town and the people they can grab pay for themselves tenfold.
Does anyone know what this logic is and suggest anything we could try to get these?

[SGT Dave]

Same boat brother. No good ideas.

[PeteBroccolo]

Originally posted by Franky:
I work in a department with under 30 officers in a town under 10 sq. miles. We do get alot of through traffic at all times of the year and it really peaks in the summer. Our neighboring town that we work very closely with has all their patrol cars equipped with MDT's and as a result they get TONS of unregistered vehicles, suspended drivers, warrants, etc.
The town I work in has much more income then them and a much bigger budget. Our Chief refuses to get us even two units and says that they cost too much, bla bla.
The money these devices make for a town and the people they can grab pay for themselves tenfold.
Does anyone know what this logic is and suggest anything we could try to get these?

Does your Agency have its own 24/7 dispatcher, or is your Agency's dispatch located in another Agency, or via 911?

Would the state of NJ have some sort of standards for MDT roll-out or grants for obtaining such equipment?

Whatever you do, do NOT shy away from "running" ALL persons and plates that you have dealings with through NCIC and your state records system (if separate)!
Possibly if you and your fellow officers put a lot of pressure on your Commcentre with heavy (but proper) requests for records checks, your backward-thinking Chief may realize the costs as far as people (stress) will balance out quite nicely vs hardware acquisition.

Of course, I have to qualify that by stating that our Division is STILL struggling with the roll-out of our mobile work stations, with the problem of hardware acquistion and installation, plus training, costs, as well as more-than-one-level-of-government approval, the requirement to replace our voice communication system and struggles with our National H.Q. regarding a possible National voice communication system implementation all causing set-backs. That, plus residual Y2K compliance problems and our share of 2001-09-11 response!

The other tack that you COULD take is, YOU could try checking out State and Federal support/grant programs, studies about officer-safety and cost-savings that MDT use can realize and/or sharing systems with surrounding Agencies, then present it to the Chief as a package that he could mull over AND hopefully implement.

Good luck, bud!

[team green]

Tell me about it. We are one of the 10 largest sheriff's departments in the country, perhaps the richest county in the nation, and our MDTs are not functional yet. Unbelievable...

[Royce]

Franky
It sure would be nice to look up some tag info at your finger tips instead of waiting in line for the dispatcher to get to you after taking care of 3 other officers, huh? With MDT you wouldn't have to wait at all. Is this one of the things your other fellow officer's are echoing? If so, have they told their concerns to the cheif?

You also say that you have under 30 officers. Now, that's not alot of officers but you do get alot of traffic in your area though, do the officers clogged up the airways constantly with request to dispatcher to look up tags? If so, I don't see why your cheif wouldn't pull for these MDT's.

Most cheif's will push to get MDT's for the simple reason of keeping the airways open and it would be much safer for the officers. In any case, your chief will have to file an application to get a grant from the federal government to supply you with new MDT's.

[Johninaustin]

I don't use an MDT, since there is no place on the bike for it. I dream of the day somebody comes up with a portable. It would really please the dispatchers too.

[PeteBroccolo]

Originally posted by Johninaustin:
I don't use an MDT, since there is no place on the bike for it. I dream of the day somebody comes up with a portable. It would really please the dispatchers too.

I don't use them, nor have I seen them other than in a review, but apparently some RCMP Detachments in the Lower Mainland area of B.C. that do have bicycle patrols have been using some sort of reduced size mobile work station on their bikes.

Unfortunately, I have no idea of make, model or capabilities, but if your Agency was interested in finding out more information, you could either search the 'web for links to the North Vancouver, Surrey or University of British Columbia RCMP Detachments, or I could try to find out some more information and eMail you - if so, send me a Private Message, eMail me at home or send me a text message via ACUPIES.