NCJ Number
123847
Journal
Journal of Police Science and Administration Volume: 17 Issue: 1 Dated: (March 1990) Pages: 20-31
Date Published
1990
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This paper examines what organizational anomalies managers should be prepared to address in the face of new information technologies, based on the experience of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) with in-car terminals.
Abstract
In 1982, the LVMPD determined that it could no longer replace its failing communications system on a piecemeal basis. Funding was subsequently approved for a digital communications system upgrade that included in-car terminals. At the user level, the command-driven terminals were highly desired by police officers to inquire on Nevada license plates and local wanted persons without dispatcher intervention. At the staff level, communications personnel recognized that a terminal-intensive system would resolve the problem of insufficient voice channels in the lower radio frequencies. In 1986, police officers actually began to use the in-car terminals for queries on vehicles and persons while the computer-assisted dispatch system that drove the terminals was tested. Operational, technical, process, and behavioral changes associated with in-car terminal use are discussed, along with unanticipated changes, and these changes are related to police department organizational and managerial policies. 14 references, 2 figures.