Fairfax Police Radio Question

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command_z

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Hello, My brother recently talked to a Fairfax county police officer after reporting a stolen bicycle near his home. The officer mentioned that not all calls are dispatched on the radio anymore and that some of them now exclusively come through the in-cruiser computer.

This seemed odd to me. What kind of calls would not come through radio? I am assuming they would be low priority calls like parking violations, etc.

Thoughts?

Thanks and happy new year!
 

pgnsucks

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Hello, My brother recently talked to a Fairfax county police officer after reporting a stolen bicycle near his home. The officer mentioned that not all calls are dispatched on the radio anymore and that some of them now exclusively come through the in-cruiser computer.

This seemed odd to me. What kind of calls would not come through radio? I am assuming they would be low priority calls like parking violations, etc.

Thoughts?

Thanks and happy new year!

The calls come across via MDT (Mobile Data Terminal) it's been that way for almost a decade. No radio needed the call comes in on the laptop, you acknowledge, en route, arrive via time stamps. You can also look up histories and other information. Every move is tracked and you also have the ability of declaring an emergency so that dispatch will deploy available units to your location. Declaring an emergency requires dispatch to respond in some form within 1 minute.

Edit; These calls can be High priority, if they are sent to your unit and you acknowledge, en route, the dispatcher see this on their display. Then no radio comm is required if it sits in your unit for more than a few minutes the dispatcher will then make a call via radio.
 
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kc4jgc

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The calls come across via MDT (Mobile Data Terminal) it's been that way for almost a decade. No radio needed the call comes in on the laptop,.... These calls can be High priority, if they are sent to your unit and you acknowledge, en route, the dispatcher see this on their display. Then no radio comm is required...

Actually, no VOICE comm... the MDT's are connected to a radio. The MDT's operate on another frequency from the trunk system.
 

brownlab

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Many calls in Fairfax are still voiced by the district dispatchers but they are more like announcements of what the units are doing (and where they are going). Happens very fast though and you can miss it if you are not listening. However needless to say if something big is going on (such as a robbery or an assaults) they talk a lot more. Fairfax is a very interesting system to monitor. Not so busy to overwhelm you but you can still hear some very interesting stuff.
 
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