Portland Police "Hot Spots"

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Otto

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Recently I have been hearing officers calling in that they "cleared the hot spot" or making traffic stops in connection to "their hot spot"...

This is something I have only been hearing recently, most often on the North talkgroup. (its the one I listen to most often since I live in NE Portland.)

I have also used to once in a while hear a dispatcher come over the air and say that "citywide is "hot", but I have not heard that in over a year now.

So, my question is: what is this "hot spot" and what does it mean?

Thanks in advance.
 

W8RMH

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I have also use the term "Hot Spots" to indicate traffic and speed enforcement in high accident areas. This is only speculation on my part as all cities are different, however I can't imagine the entire city being a hot spot.

The dispatcher advising "citywide is hot" could be referring to the citywide channel being used for multiple unit traffic enforcement, where a stationary unit operates the laser or radar and communicates information to the chase cars, such as the offending vehicle description, speed, range etc.
 
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V_A_R_I_A_B_L_E

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Recently I have been hearing officers calling in that they "cleared the hot spot" or making traffic stops in connection to "their hot spot"...

This is something I have only been hearing recently, most often on the North talkgroup. (its the one I listen to most often since I live in NE Portland.)

I have also used to once in a while hear a dispatcher come over the air and say that "citywide is "hot", but I have not heard that in over a year now.

So, my question is: what is this "hot spot" and what does it mean?

Thanks in advance.

The hotspots are part of the focused patrol program discussed in this KATU article:
A blast from the past: Portland police start 'new-school' foot patrols | Local & Regional | KATU.com - Portland News, Sports, Traffic Weather and Breaking News - Portland, Oregon

Basically they show up in the CAD queue as if they were a service call and the officer is supposed to respond and to a patrol of that particular area.

As for "citywide is hot", I believe this has to do with a LoJack signal hitting on the radio towers? Not sure if someone else can elaborate on it.
 

dkf435

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In other geographic areas it used to refer to the PRONET ETS tracking system used for bank robberies being active with a signal. Look for cars with 3 13 inch antennas in a triangle calling direction and number of bars.. It uses 216-220 band.
Lojack is 4 18 inch antennas using VHF HI

David Kb7uns
 

Otto

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The hotspots are part of the focused patrol program discussed in this KATU article:
A blast from the past: Portland police start 'new-school' foot patrols | Local & Regional | KATU.com - Portland News, Sports, Traffic Weather and Breaking News - Portland, Oregon

Basically they show up in the CAD queue as if they were a service call and the officer is supposed to respond and to a patrol of that particular area.

As for "citywide is hot", I believe this has to do with a LoJack signal hitting on the radio towers? Not sure if someone else can elaborate on it.

Ah that makes complete sense. I figured it was something like that. Thanks for the info.
 

vansigint98661

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"Citywide is HOt"

The prior poster is correct about some of these including the "Citywide" quote by dispatchers. Back at the end of the 1980's, even before the TRS became a reality, bank robbery details used RF tags hidden in bait money so that they could track them. You would also hear the FBI on the Portland system during the hunt. Certain equipped cars would drive until they got enough LEDs lit up on the equipment, citing their locations until they could triangulate (so to speak) on the signal and close in for the kill. I don't think the robbers ever really understood how they were being caught.

I'm sure some of the other posters are correct to about community policing on target areas, but the "Citywide" reference along with others if you carefully analyze the situation, will be these tags.

I want to thank the same poster for verifying that there are also LoJack units in the area as well. I'd wondered if they had changed the antenna configuration and length for the tags to provide more range or different vendor. Now it's confirmed. And, since I've seen it on various agencies, I'll assume it's also mult-jurisdictional.
 

mikepdx

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..Back at the end of the 1980's, even before the TRS became a reality, bank robbery details used RF tags hidden in bait money so that they could track them.

Just a few mos. ago, PPB-Central had a bank robbery in the Sellwood area.
They didn't find the robber immediately, but the tracking device (the tag) and bank bag
were found in the Safeway parking lot in Milwaukie. They were DF'd by the officers.
I copied the hunt on the scanner.

Listen for them talking about how many LED's they
have and from which direction.
 
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gmitch

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Portland, OR
The hotspots are part of the focused patrol program discussed in this KATU article:
A blast from the past: Portland police start 'new-school' foot patrols | Local & Regional | KATU.com - Portland News, Sports, Traffic Weather and Breaking News - Portland, Oregon

Basically they show up in the CAD queue as if they were a service call and the officer is supposed to respond and to a patrol of that particular area.

As for "citywide is hot", I believe this has to do with a LoJack signal hitting on the radio towers? Not sure if someone else can elaborate on it.

Here is the PPB link:
Police Bureau Implements a New Community Engagement Strategy

And the "citywide is hot" type calls are definitely for ETS tracking. I hear them pretty often on Central around 9 AM. Sometimes it's the tellers setting them off by accident :)
 

dkf435

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Here is the PPB link:
Police Bureau Implements a New Community Engagement Strategy

And the "citywide is hot" type calls are definitely for ETS tracking. I hear them pretty often on Central around 9 AM. Sometimes it's the tellers setting them off by accident :)

Actually had one set off down the street one time in Orange County CA and had an AR1000 scanner and went and confirmed the frequency.

Also heard one bank robbery what activated the system and helicopter picked up signal was 1 mile out and then the 211 bank came on the air. Helicopter had suspect spotted and running down sidewalk from the bank doors and patrol car pulls across sidewalk stopping suspect and he gets shoved into car and total time was like less then 3 minutes from activation to in custody. Good system till they started carrying metal boxes for the loot.

David Kb7uns
 
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