The Cortez Police Department got the green light to install 34 new computers in its squad cars at the July 9 City Council meeting.
The computers are called mobile data terminals, or MDTs. They allow officers to write and submit minor reports from their car instead of heading back to a station computer to do it.
This keeps officers in the field, which discourages criminal activity and improves response times, Chief of Police Vernon Knuckles said at the meeting.
Minor reports can take officers up to an hour to file, and officers might receive several each shift.
“Multiply that over three to four officers on a shift … (and) the community can be losing up to or more than 12 hours of active patrol or presence in the city,” Knuckles said.
The computers will be installed in every police car, including code enforcement and animal control vehicles. The start date remains unclear, but instillation shouldn’t take more than five days once the equipment and MHQ West, the Albuquerque-based vendor, are ready.
“I’m excited for the department … to embrace better technology to enhance their jobs and their response time,” said Mayor Rachel Medina.
Officers will still have to return to the station for things like putting evidence in lockers. But MDTs can help by doing what Knuckles called “proactive things” – like running license plates, checking the validity of driver’s licenses and getting into record management systems.
They’re also useful for performing on-the-spot suspect assessments, allowing officers to identify suspects from their squad car. Previously, such identification was only possible at the station.
Knuckles hopes the laptops will allow officers to be more detailed in their notes, making it easier to file reports after the fact.
Plus, the MDTs may inadvertently relieve some of the pressure on dispatch since officers will have the ability to pursue their own questions in the field rather than always calling back to dispatch, Knuckles said.
Last year, the police department applied for the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant, and was recently awarded the money, making the MDT project possible.
The grant, which is nearly $250,000, will cover the initial cost of installing the 34 computers, the e-force silent dispatch software and AT&T data cards for connectivity.
“The city was kind of hesitant on funding the upstart of the program and then the ongoing, but because we got the grant, they’re supportive of the ongoing,” Knuckles said.
There are annual fees – estimated under $40,000 – that will increase 3% each year after the first year to cover licenses for the record management system and software provider.
So, after the first year, the department will have to ask for this additional funding in their budget to keep the program going, Medina said.
Knuckles said he’s excited to get the MDT program going so officers can be more productive and spend more time in the field.
“Some people look at this as new technology, but MDTs is about 30-year-old technology, so it’s not new to law enforcement,” said Knuckles. “Just some agencies are that far behind.”
