LAPD Unveils High-Tech Plan for Fighting Crime

By MATT LAIT

March 26, 1997 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

Los Angeles police officials Tuesday unveiled their vision for the future, outlining a five-year plan to equip police officers with computers and other high-tech gear that would make them better, more efficient crime fighters.

“We do not have the luxury of having an officer on every block,” Chief Willie L. Williams stated in a report presented to the Police Commission. “We need to maximize [officer] effectiveness by providing them with technology and tools to leverage the impact that they can have.”

Under the LAPD plan, officers of the future would use a powerful network of personal computers to investigate crimes, retrieve electronic mug shots and fingerprints and file reports from their patrol cars. Detectives would tap into a central computer to share information with their colleagues in other parts of the city. And investigators would hold video conferences with prosecutors to better coordinate the filing of criminal cases.

Responding to a request from commissioners to develop a long-range plan for upgrading the department’s technology, police officials Tuesday broadly discussed more than $300 million worth of improvements to computer and communication systems, some of which are underway.

The most costly improvement involves a $235-million overhaul of the department’s emergency communication system, which is being paid for by a 1992 bond measure. Most of the computer enhancements are being funded by about $30 million in federal grants and an additional $15 million from private donations to Mayor Richard Riordan’s Alliance for a Safer L.A.

The goal of the plan, officials said, is to make the department’s 9,344 officers more effective and productive by eliminating paperwork--which is now largely done at the stations and consumes as much as 40% of an officer’s day.

William F. Russell, a civilian police administrator, said patrol officers in the near future will be equipped with rugged laptop computers that will allow them to access mug shots, fingerprint records and criminal history information.

“One way or the other we are going to break the officers’ tether to the station so they can do what they were trained to do--police work,” he said.

The laptop computer program is expected to be tested in a pilot program by the end of the year. If it is successful, the department would acquire about 1,200 computers, which are estimated to cost about $4,000 apiece.

Under the plan, detectives are slated to have computers that will give them the ability to input and retrieve information on current and past cases, work that is now largely done by hand. Detectives would also be able to access their colleagues’ cases to see if there is any information pertinent to their work.

“This system will allow us to clear a lot more cases a year,” Russell said.

The system would allow supervisors to track the clearance rates of particular detectives or groups of detectives, as well as track potential “problem officers” within the department, officials said.

Another time savings for detectives, police officials said, would result from the video conferencing program. According to Russell, each of the 18 divisions would be able to hold such conferences with the prosecutors in the district attorney’s and city attorney’s offices.

“This would save an enormous amount of time,” said Det. Thomas Barnhart, who spoke before the commission. “It would eliminate time driving in traffic from one end of the city to another.

“I believe we are the first department in the nation to try this,” Russell added.

To support all the computer links within the department, communication systems would need to be upgraded, police officials said.

Major improvements to the LAPD’s communication system are underway, they said. About 8,000 new hand-held radios have been given to officers, which for the first time allow police to communicate with co-workers anywhere in the city’s 465 square miles. The radios also enable LAPD officers to communicate with other law enforcement agencies in the county, such as the Sheriff’s Department, officials said.

The LAPD is also replacing the “mobile data terminals” in patrol cars with upgraded models that are more user friendly.

Many of the ideas in the department’s plan mirror recommendations of four recent consultants’ reports on the agency. The LAPD plan is less ambitious than the consultants’ blueprint for the department’s future because of a lack of funds, officials said.

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LAPD Computer Plan

Here is a sample of the high-tech gear included in the Los Angeles Police Department’s $300-million modernization plan:

Equipment: Laptop computers: For use in patrol cars, reducing paperwork.

Estimated Quantity: 1,200

Estimated Cost: $4,000 each

Equipment: Video conferencing systems: For detective to better coordinate filing of cases with prosecutors.

Estimated Quantity: 23 (one for each station)

Estimated Cost: $800,000 total

Equipment: Mobile data terminals: To allow better communication, plus quicker data access

Estimated Quantity: 1,200-1,400

Estimated Cost: $6,000-$10,000 each