Reassignments, New Laptops Seen as Boosting Police Efforts

The Police Department estimates it will gain the equivalent of 55 new patrol officers through the use of new time-saving computers purchased with the help of a $1.8-million federal grant, along with the redeployment of sworn officers now in administrative positions, officials said Tuesday.

The money comes from the U.S. Justice Department’s COPS MORE grant program, part of the 1994 crime bill aimed at swelling the ranks of police officers on the street by 100,000 by the year 2000.

Santa Ana will use its money to replace the small computers currently used in patrol cars with about 150 laptops, said Lt. George Saadeh.

Because the computers are mobile, officers can save time by bringing them into homes or other locations and filing reports, Saadeh said. The reports, in turn, can be downloaded directly into the department’s main database.

This will allow officers to spend more time on the streets, thus effectively boosting the patrol force, he said.

The computers will cost from $8,000 to $10,000 each, and one will be placed in each patrol car. The computers, to be delivered by March 1997, can run on batteries or an electric charge.

Santa Ana police previously have received about $1.9 million from the 1994 crime bill: $1.7 million to hire 15 officers known as “Clinton cops” and $220,000 to purchase other laptops, Saadeh said.

Of the six California cities that received COPS MORE grants Tuesday, Santa Ana received the most, according to U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s office. The second-largest amount, $697,500, was awarded to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.

Santa Ana Police Chief Paul M. Walters said the ability to transmit information quickly is the key to the new system.

“Any way you can enhance the way to get information to officers is going to enhance policing,” Walters said.