[timtim]

http://www.officer.com/web/online/Top-News-Stories/Baltimore-Patrol-Officers-to-Get-BlackBerrys/1$48237

Grant money well spent? Don't get me wrong big blackberry fan but...

[Xopher]

Really???

There's two threads on this already!

http://forums.crackberry.com/f40/bal...erries-307590/

[timtim]

Really???

There's two threads on this already!

http://forums.crackberry.com/f40/bal...erries-307590/

Your the one who took additional time to look at it again, really. But I am so sorry sir/mam to have taken your precious time from you for a triple posting. next time I will be sure to go all the way down to make sure its not already there.

[Jancy10]

This is stupid! I think is a wasted of $$, why would cops need BBs? They not supposed to be on phones while driving! :P lol

Some old lady could be getting robbed while they BBM each other! Lol

[Vortex337]

I think BB is the least of the police officers distractions. Ever notice the laptops in the front seat that allow them to "IM" between each other, search vehicle history, and a million other things that distract them from driving? I was behind a police officer one day that was clearly typing what seemed to be a book because between his swerving in and out of the lines and his blatant disregard for driving he went half way through an intersection before slamming on the brakes for running a stop sign.

[Gamer03]

This does seem like a waste of money. I saw a news story for my state yesterday that said they if we cut state employees issued phones down to essential personnel, then we would save several million each year.

[NissanGuy23]

I personally think this is a good thing.

Sure at face value it looks like an unnecessary expense, but reading through the article and understanding how they are going to be used really shows how we are advancing technologically.

Think about it, how many times have you been pulled over only to wait 20 minutes while the cop is back in his car on the computer? This will save time, and in the long run it WILL cut expenses ($7,800 to install a laptop in a car? Give 'em blackberrys)

[amazinglygraceless]

I personally think it is a waste of stimulus funding.
You get money from American taxpayers and you should
be obligated to buy a product from an American company.

Nothing against our neighbors to the north but this has little
stimulative effect for our country.

[jahoobob]

This is stupid! I think is a wasted of $$, why would cops need BBs? They not supposed to be on phones while driving! :P lol

Some old lady could be getting robbed while they BBM each other! Lol

My bet is that most major PDs issue cells to at least their detectives and probably patrolmen. Police radios allow only one conversation at a time per frequency. Cells a whole lot more. To me that is a big help in fighting and solving crimes.

[dictoresno]

I personally think it is a waste of stimulus funding.
You get money from American taxpayers and you should
be obligated to buy a product from an American company.

Nothing against our neighbors to the north but this has little
stimulative effect for our country.

what about the 90% or higher of the federal govt that issued blackberrys?

most of the guys in my dept have blackberrys, although its their own personal phones bought with their own money.

[KJowers]

what about the 90% or higher of the federal govt that issued blackberrys?

most of the guys in my dept have blackberrys, although its their own personal phones bought with their own money.

I'm one of those guys in my pd. Use it for translating, drug identification, crime scene investigation, evidence collection, etc. Constant easy communication with multiple officers. In trying to get out IT guy to buy into us using them as stated in baltimore.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[wouldya]

My bet is that most major PDs issue cells to at least their detectives and probably patrolmen. Police radios allow only one conversation at a time per frequency. Cells a whole lot more. To me that is a big help in fighting and solving crimes.

The smaller departments, at or below 50 members [P.O. up to Captain(s) and Chief(s)] may have this luxury, as it is a small cost and a big return vs. larger volume of cops on the street and more eyes and ears. My dept. is close to 700, and mostly our bosses and Dets have BBs. There are other BBs that can be taken out for the day and can be used for license plates, license checks, gun serial #s, restraining orders, and the like....... To outfit an entire, relatively large, department would be a gigantic investment. Most depts. would have to double or triple their IT manpower just to handle the volume of "this isn't working" calls from cops. As far as NYPD (37,000+ est) and LAPD (4000+ est) members..... that's almost impossible to pass through the budget.

And it's a double edged sword; the productivity would increase of course..... but the demand for productivity would increase tenfold. In the eyes of the bosses, cops would be expected to exponentially increase their arrests, tickets, impounds, etc.... Not because there is more to arrest for, but that there is more that CAN be arrested for. This would spell the end for Officer Discretion, our strongest and most responsible of Police powers. And, cops will be tied up on BS "crimes" that they have to arrest for. So when a real emergency (burglary, shooting, baby not breathing) call comes in; guess what.... all the cops are waiting in line to process their prisoners because of the albatross blackberrys.

Not to mention the possibility that the servers would be overwhelmed and may crash more than expected..... leading to a backfire and therefore preventing a felony warrant from popping up on someone because 300 other people are running plates for double-parked cars, and completely clogging the network.

I'm fine with calling in plates and ID checks over a half-duplex radio, and using the in-car laptop, thank you.

[datdude11]

I think its a good idea.

[gmkahuna]

My bet is that most major PDs issue cells to at least their detectives and probably patrolmen. Police radios allow only one conversation at a time per frequency. Cells a whole lot more. To me that is a big help in fighting and solving crimes.

Um no, not even close. I am one of the system admins on a fully digital 800 MHz. system with over 3500 subscribers. The only thing you got right was that one person at a time can talk, per talk group, as it should be. Anyone with a specific talk group programmed in to their hand held unit or mobile can hear that conversation. Understand that these radios hold a lot more than one talk group. The radios we use have the capability of storing 256 talk groups in each of them. You simply switch to what you need to use and start broadcasting. You can talk privately as well, but that is really not needed as most agencies around here have "admin" talk groups for commanders and operations level employees. Also, there are many talk groups per frequency.

Using a Blackberry as a primary voice communications system severely limits their capabilities as a whole not to mention doing so, audio tracks are not recorded like they are on a large voice system. Any good system will also be trunking meaning that just because you have a scanner does not mean you can follow a conversation. It switches TX and Rx frequencies every time you "key up" yet it tracked by the system so that communications between subscriber units will maintain that link. The signals can also be enabled as secure meaning that without decryption capabilites, you're not picking it up WITH a trunking scanner.

Ours also utilizes Microwave SONET loops to allow for the use of ethernet and T1 lines as well without the need for telephone lines. There is enough redundancy that it is ten times more reliable than any cellular broadcast frequency. Needless to say, for voice communications, the blackberry fails in comparison and should never be used as a primary system for emergency responders.

The only thing these are better than a true radio communications system is for internet based programs they need to do daily tasks as they discussed. Other than that, a Blackberry or any other phone is far inferior to the system described above. There is a heck of a lot more that I left out for the simple reason I think I more than made my point here and our system is not unique. There are many of them all over the United States just like it or better.


Wouldya, I think you and I are of the same opinion on this. I see it as a waste of taxpayer money that could be spend on more officers, newer equipment such as vests or other advancements. Most of the Departments here do not want their officers communicating via cell because it is not secure nor is it recorded in case it is needed as evidence.