CAD Interface

Cops get linked: New program helps provide more info on calls

By Joseph Straw, Register Staff

New Haven Register (Connecticut)

WEST HAVEN — Until recently, the only information city police officers had as they rushed to calls was an address and a few words from a desk sergeant describing what they should expect. But this is the Information Age, and the Police Department is keeping up with the times.

A new program installed on computers in each of the city's squad cars and linked to the department's computer network via cellular modems is providing officers in the field more information than ever before. Officers now have the basics of the call right before them on their computer screens, along with all available information about the location and the parties involved.

Lt. Ronald Quagliani, who spent a year developing the system along with a consulting firm in Charleston, S.C., said he believes the interface is the first of its kind.

"The other systems are similar, but they're not in real time. I don't believe there's another true interface out there," Quagliani said. Previously, emergency calls to the police were fielded by a dispatcher who immediately entered the information into a computer and e-mailed it to a desk sergeant. The sergeant then selected and dispatched an officer by radio.

Now, the information is instantly e-mailed by the desk sergeant to the officer in the car and displayed on the screen of the laptop. "If you listen to the scanner, it's 'Can I hear that address again?' and 'Can I hear that name again?' and 'Can I get that case number?' Now it's all there," Quagliani said.

The "form" displayed on the officer's screen also contains a breakdown of previous calls to the location, arrests there, licensed weapons at the address, and outstanding warrants and protective orders involving residents.

The information has been accessible to officers in the field for more than a year, but is now drawn from the databases for them automatically.

Further, a click of a button displays all officers on patrol, their locations, and whether they are free or involved in a call.

"I can see where everyone is, what they're doing. If someone screams for help, I know where they are," Quagliani said, "I'm really excited about this because it increases officers' safety a million fold, and it clears up the desk. It gets rid of needless chatter on the radio for more important stuff," he said.

Police Chief Michael Kelly said he is "very happy" with the new system. "It certainly makes us more productive, and it makes us better able to serve the public."