Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 4, 1993 TAG: 9307040064
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ARLINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The miniature portable computer is specially designed for police work and intended to lessen the paperwork burden on beat cops. It's programmed with most of the forms, background and other information that officers use to fill out police reports, and other routine paperwork.
"It's really a time saver. So far it's working really well," Lambert said. The Arlington County patrol officer is one of six testing the devices in a pilot program that began in May.
Similar computers are in use in a handful of cities nationwide. Arlington police are the first to use them in Virginia.
Filing a report on a robbery, Lambert flips through a computer directory. Using a pen-like pointer, she touches the screen and a digital version of a police report form appears. With a few more touches of the pen, she fills in the type of crime, items stolen, a description of victim and attacker and other information from a menu of programmed options.
She uses a keyboard to type in the last few details, then takes the pen and signs her name directly onto the screen. The computer reads the signature and records it. It can also read numbers.
Police officers' notoriously poor handwriting is one reason the computers are so helpful, said Lt. Florence Starzynski, chief of the Arlington police records section.
"It helps avoid mistakes or confusion later," she said.
Arlington will test the devices through the summer, Starzynski said. Alexandria plans to test the computers later this year, said Tom Steele, records chief in Alexandria.
"These things make everyone's life easier, including in court," Steele said. The computer reports are standardized, leaving little wiggle room for defendants, he said.
"They can't argue that because there is something missing or vague in the report that you can't tell what the officer meant. It's all there and it's the same," Steele said.
Also, once a report is stored, it cannot be changed, eliminating the question of whether an officer may have improperly altered a report, he said.
But defense lawyers say the computers will not make police work error-free.
"Anything that goes into a computer is still subject to error by the person putting it into the computer," said Rich McCue, immediate past president of the Arlington County Bar.
Arlington plans to install the computers in every police cruiser eventually. Since the devices are small enough to fit in a briefcase or tuck under the arm, detectives and other non-patrol officers also will carry them, Starzynski said.
The computers cost about $4,420 each with the custom software, she said.
The device is also programmed to recognize every street name in Arlington and will eventually contain an internal map of every intersection to help with traffic reports, Starzynski said.
by CNB