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Is Big Brother on your side?
Here is a thought provoking topic that may prompt some good discussion...if you have a position on this please post your thoughts.
Dateline
allas, TX - 7/12/2001 Dallas Morning News
By Drake Witham
The Dallas Police Department is using Global Positioning
System technology to pinpoint within 10 feet the exact
location, speed and direction of nearly 800 of the department's vehicles.
The Automated Vehicle Locator system, which coordinates the global tracking information that bounces off satellites, is a $180,000 slice of a $9.4 million technology upgrade to squad cars and the dispatch center.
Lt. Gene P. Summers of the Police Technology and Technical Support Unit said backup officers were impressed with the technology in late spring when an officer, who was pursuing a vehicle in a southwest Dallas alley, got out of his car and lost contact with the dispatch center. The dispatcher had no idea whether the officer needed assistance, police said.
Using AVL, the dispatcher was able to pinpoint his location and get backup squad cars there within 30 seconds, police said.
"It was able to zero in so close that they could pinpoint the car in an alley between two streets," Lt. Summers said. "The officers were amazed. They said they couldn't believe it was exactly where they were told it would be."
Assistant Chief Thomas Ward said the system is designed first to provide safety for officers and citizens and second for efficiency in dispatching calls because a dispatcher can look at the screen and see the squad car closest to a call. Finally, he said, the system also provides supervision of the officers.
It is the supervision and the system's ability to track an officer for an entire shift that has some concerned.
"They can track you down to the second. This is Big
Brother in real life," said Senior Cpl. Glenn M. White, president of the Dallas Police Association. "Their motives may have been proper, but unfortunately this information is going to be used to discipline people, and it's subject to accuracy."
Data from the system have already been used in the
termination of one officer, according to documents obtained through the Texas Open Records Act.
Officer Ernest Fierro, 32, was fired in May for allegedly
fleeing the scene of an accident and driving at speeds of more than 100 miles per hour before crashing his car again.
Officer Fierro told investigators that he could not remember the moments before the accident that sent him to the hospital. But an eyewitness picked him out of a photo lineup. The AVL system showed him at the location of the first accident before leaving at a high rate of speed and continuing at more than
100 mph for more than a minute before crashing, according to the documents. He disputed the system's accuracy.
Not 100% dependable
Lt. Summers would not comment on that case but said inaccurate readings occur at a rate of one per every 100,000. He said police using the system logs last week were able to determine that a woman who called in and said that a police car had hit her car and fled was mistaken.
Senior Cpls. Eric Garrett and Patricia O'Donnel oversaw the installation of the $2,900 terminals in squad cars and the training of officers.
"This system has provided us with the capability to reduce response time, improve service on the streets and added a safety feature for the officers," Cpl. Garrett said. "If we really need to find an officer in a hurry, we're going to find the officer.
The computers also can read bar codes on drivers' licenses and retrieve information on arrests and speeding tickets.
Within the past two weeks, terminals were installed at each of the dispatch regions allowing dispatchers to know exactly where the squad cars were. A separate part of the program gives each vehicle's exact speed and location every 300 meters, or three minutes.
Quicker to the scene
As dispatchers become more familiar with the system, Lt. Summers said they will be able to coordinate chases better by checking their screen for available squad cars. Wednesday afternoon, Dallas police assisted Dallas County constables in a chase by locating available squad cars close to the scene, Cpl. Garrett said.
But not everyone is sold on the system. Some officers say that to improve response times, the computers list them at a location before they arrive. Others are concerned about computer hackers who might break into the system.
Lt. Summers said that officers can still only be reported at a location by either notifying a dispatcher or punching a button on their computers. As for security concerns, he said the information exchanged between vehicles and satellites and the dispatch center is encrypted at the highest possible level, also used by the CIA and FBI.
Sgt. Thomas Glover, president of the Texas Peace Officers Association, said some officers are concerned they are being used as "nothing more than a tool to keep them in line and make sure they are not in unauthorized locations."
But he said the system's strong points locating officers who have not checked in or getting information on suspects strengthen the department.
Dateline
allas, TX - 7/12/2001 Dallas Morning News By Drake Witham
The Dallas Police Department is using Global Positioning
System technology to pinpoint within 10 feet the exact
location, speed and direction of nearly 800 of the department's vehicles.
The Automated Vehicle Locator system, which coordinates the global tracking information that bounces off satellites, is a $180,000 slice of a $9.4 million technology upgrade to squad cars and the dispatch center.
Lt. Gene P. Summers of the Police Technology and Technical Support Unit said backup officers were impressed with the technology in late spring when an officer, who was pursuing a vehicle in a southwest Dallas alley, got out of his car and lost contact with the dispatch center. The dispatcher had no idea whether the officer needed assistance, police said.
Using AVL, the dispatcher was able to pinpoint his location and get backup squad cars there within 30 seconds, police said.
"It was able to zero in so close that they could pinpoint the car in an alley between two streets," Lt. Summers said. "The officers were amazed. They said they couldn't believe it was exactly where they were told it would be."
Assistant Chief Thomas Ward said the system is designed first to provide safety for officers and citizens and second for efficiency in dispatching calls because a dispatcher can look at the screen and see the squad car closest to a call. Finally, he said, the system also provides supervision of the officers.
It is the supervision and the system's ability to track an officer for an entire shift that has some concerned.
"They can track you down to the second. This is Big
Brother in real life," said Senior Cpl. Glenn M. White, president of the Dallas Police Association. "Their motives may have been proper, but unfortunately this information is going to be used to discipline people, and it's subject to accuracy."
Data from the system have already been used in the
termination of one officer, according to documents obtained through the Texas Open Records Act.
Officer Ernest Fierro, 32, was fired in May for allegedly
fleeing the scene of an accident and driving at speeds of more than 100 miles per hour before crashing his car again.
Officer Fierro told investigators that he could not remember the moments before the accident that sent him to the hospital. But an eyewitness picked him out of a photo lineup. The AVL system showed him at the location of the first accident before leaving at a high rate of speed and continuing at more than
100 mph for more than a minute before crashing, according to the documents. He disputed the system's accuracy.
Not 100% dependable
Lt. Summers would not comment on that case but said inaccurate readings occur at a rate of one per every 100,000. He said police using the system logs last week were able to determine that a woman who called in and said that a police car had hit her car and fled was mistaken.
Senior Cpls. Eric Garrett and Patricia O'Donnel oversaw the installation of the $2,900 terminals in squad cars and the training of officers.
"This system has provided us with the capability to reduce response time, improve service on the streets and added a safety feature for the officers," Cpl. Garrett said. "If we really need to find an officer in a hurry, we're going to find the officer.
The computers also can read bar codes on drivers' licenses and retrieve information on arrests and speeding tickets.
Within the past two weeks, terminals were installed at each of the dispatch regions allowing dispatchers to know exactly where the squad cars were. A separate part of the program gives each vehicle's exact speed and location every 300 meters, or three minutes.
Quicker to the scene
As dispatchers become more familiar with the system, Lt. Summers said they will be able to coordinate chases better by checking their screen for available squad cars. Wednesday afternoon, Dallas police assisted Dallas County constables in a chase by locating available squad cars close to the scene, Cpl. Garrett said.
But not everyone is sold on the system. Some officers say that to improve response times, the computers list them at a location before they arrive. Others are concerned about computer hackers who might break into the system.
Lt. Summers said that officers can still only be reported at a location by either notifying a dispatcher or punching a button on their computers. As for security concerns, he said the information exchanged between vehicles and satellites and the dispatch center is encrypted at the highest possible level, also used by the CIA and FBI.
Sgt. Thomas Glover, president of the Texas Peace Officers Association, said some officers are concerned they are being used as "nothing more than a tool to keep them in line and make sure they are not in unauthorized locations."
But he said the system's strong points locating officers who have not checked in or getting information on suspects strengthen the department.
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