NCJ Number
193982
Journal
Law Enforcement Technology Volume: 29 Issue: 2 Dated: February 2002 Pages: 60-65
Date Published
2002
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This article reviews the goals of "Project 54," a project designed to integrate the dozen or more tools in an average police cruiser's front seat and group them into a single system.
Abstract
Project 54, a program developed by researchers at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) in partnership with the New Hampshire State Police (NHSP), has two goals: integrate cruiser controls into one common tool and improve officers' ability to collect, interpret, and exchange data in the field. Cruiser control integration occurs on two levels: the individual cruiser and as part of a multi-unit network. After reviewing the integration of the cruiser's existing hardware in to a common system, called Intelligent Transportation Systems Data Bus (IDB), there is discussion of a major feature of the project: speech recognition (SR) capability. An officer can issue voice commands for virtually every function, including turning on emergency equipment, accessing criminal and motor vehicle records, and getting global positioning system (GPS) data. The SR system features a "push-to-talk" button on the steering wheel. Another hallmark of the Project 54 research is the cruiser's data storage system. Project 54 researchers determined that most State and national database records could be stored in the cruiser itself, not in a computer across the State, significantly reducing the time it takes for records to appear on screen. Now in its fourth year, the project has turned to expanding the range of capabilities of the new technologies. For example, the project team is programming a barcode/magnetic strip reader to take information from a driver's license and put it into a written ticket or incident report, so the officer doesn't have to type it in. Project 54 has spun off many other kinds of research, which includes making the system more adaptable to shorter, taller, and left-handed officers and refining the SR system to allow more natural dialogue between officer and cruiser, instead of the current question-and-answer sessions that require exact cadence. Training, another key to making the system usable, is still under development. Web-based tutorials take two tracks: training for public safety information technicians and training for police officers and dispatchers. Tutorials teach officers how to use the system and the underlying concepts that make it work.