BREA : Police, Fire Agencies Tap In to System

The city is successfully marketing its high-tech information system to police and fire departments in neighboring communities.

For six years, Brea police officers and firefighters have been using computers in their vehicles to access databases on suspected criminals, cars and drivers and for other information searches. Now, Brea has signed agreements with Buena Park and Pomona, which will purchase equipment and piggyback on the system. The city of Whittier is evaluating the system and will soon decide whether to sign on as well.

Separate systems are not available to these cities because there is a limited number of frequencies.

Expansion of the program was set in motion last week when Brea City Council members unanimously approved leasing the excess capacity on its public safety frequency in an effort to raise money. The system is the same one--but on a different frequency--as that used by law enforcement officials and firefighters in Huntington Beach, Anaheim and a few other cities in Orange and Los Angeles counties.

Brea officials said Buena Park and Pomona will each buy Mobile Data Terminal units from the city and pay a start-up fee based on the number of units purchased and the cities’ population--$33,166 for Buena Park and $62,462 for Pomona--as well as a monthly access fee.

Once the units are installed, police and firefighters will be able to access enormous volumes of information, ranging from suspects’ police records to addresses of homes, medical histories of some residents and checks on automobiles through Department of Motor Vehicles records.

Many police officers now have to ask dispatchers to obtain information, such as checking on active warrants or stolen cars, which takes time.

The mobile data system uses a radio frequency to transmit messages from a police patrol car, firetruck or paramedic van computer to dispatch centers and receives the answer on the screen within seconds.

The system decreases response time, workload and routine traffic on the voice radio channels by about 25% while increasing productivity and efficiency, Brea officials said.

By joining in Brea’s high-tech venture, Buena Park will go from using the voice radio technology of the 1920s to the “reliable, error-free data messaging of the 1990s and beyond,” said Buena Park Police Chief Richard M. Tefank.

Brea officials said the new regional sharing system is the first of its kind in the United States.