This document reports the results of a survey on batteries and other power sources for portable equipment used in law enforcement and corrections.
The majority of the equipment reported on was carried by people during their regular assignments. That exposed it to shock and vibration problems and to sudden and large temperature changes. More than one-quarter of the equipment was used or stored in automobiles and other vehicles. While lack of physical durability was cited as a problem, the problem most often reported by law enforcement agencies was battery life after installation in equipment. The majority of the complaints centered on the lack of ability to determine the remaining useful life of a battery. Specific cases mentioned the memory effect of nickle-cadmium batteries, the short life of some conventional batteries and the sudden death of batteries such as lithium and zinc-air. Notes, tables, appendixes