What Happened?
The Hope Police Department in Arkansas was selected for a pilot program of a municipal agency to test an electronic citation origination and database system. The technology is designed to enable law enforcement to accomplish more during a traffic stop with immediate access to a driver’s criminal history, outstanding citations and other information that could be seen as a red flag.
The Goal
The University of Alabama developed a software program for the State of Alabama, which has been adopted for the pilot program with the Arkansas State Police. The advanced database software works in collaboration with a scanner-based system installed in patrol units that enables an officer to scan a driver’s vehicle registration, driver’s license and record of citations from a single database.
The police officers can scan the Arkansas Crime Information System database, records from the National Crime Information System and enter new citation notes into the consolidated system while in the field. No dispatcher or records office must be notified to access the information, which takes time and resources. Rather, law enforcement can check out an individual in real-time, and bring them in if need be.
Let’s Talk Money
The Arkansas Highway Safety Office received federal funding to support the pilot project. The Hope Police Department is using federal grants to implement the necessary technology to support the advanced software’s capabilities and drive savings. While federal grants are funding the majority of the pilot program, the Arkansas Highway Safety Office is also providing an $8,000 sub grant for all associated programming costs.
After one month of using the in-car software technology, the Hope Police Department has reported significant reductions in overall costs. If the software proves useful, the Hope Police Department plans to get rid of its database server vendor to save $5,000 annually. Once police officers are trained in the new technology to limit errors, researchers expect the software to offer continual cost savings to local governments.
Face It
Another advancement in law enforcement technology is underway with the Department of Homeland Security testing surveillance equipment that utilizes facial-scanning programs. The surveillance systems would allow law enforcement to scan crowds with advanced cameras and identify individual people based on their facial images for faster identification of suspects during a manhunt or after an incident has occurred.
Known as the Biometric Optical Surveillance System, the technology utilizes an extensive database of individual pictures and information to match up with camera footage in real-time, much like the citation database being tested in Arkansas. The federal government has allocated $5.1 million toward the testing and development of the facial recognition surveillance program, which could be implemented at the local level in the future.
Both technologies will likely be used at federal, state and local levels. Currently, license plate data is already consolidated to make law enforcement more efficient based on region. Facial recognition and citation databases may offer the same benefits of savings and improved law enforcement performance.
The Boys In Blue
Gov1 has reported on other strides being made in local law enforcement including mobile apps to reduce crime and shared services to reduce costs.