GPS on police radios?

[Stick0413]

Not sure where to put this. Its just a thought I have. Why don't they put GPS into police radios so they know where the officer (or the radio anyways) is at all times. It could help in officer safety. It could also help in dispatching officers to calls. Dispatch could always dispatch the closest officer (especially on a major call.) If they lose contact with an officer you will know where he is or at least where his radio is which could help in nabing a dumb criminal if he decides to take the radio. GPS is incorporated in so many other things today why not in radios.

 

[KE7TJK]

PD here already has that in use, in their vehicles.

FD here uses the same exact system as well.

 

[Stick0413]

PD here already has that in use, in their vehicles.

FD here uses the same exact system as well.

I knew some used them in vehicles. I would think it would be good to do it in the portables also. If one officers life was saved by it then all the money spent for it would be worth every penny.

 

[Jay911]

It would drive the costs of the portable radios up a significant amount. Besides the GPS equipment (which still needs to be able to see the sky, which you might not be able to do if you're in an apartment on the 3rd floor of a 27 story building), you'll need an RF modem to transmit the GPS signal to whoever is going to monitor it - and that modem has to have a frequency to transmit upon. IF you were talking about a trunked radio system, it might be feasible to do all this over the control channel, if you are willing to make significant redesigns to the trunk system.

As others said, some agencies have them in the vehicles. Our agency has a dedicated radio modem that goes over the EvDO network provided by a local wireless company, transmitting AVL (Automatic Vehicle Locator) data as well as our dispatch CAD system (the MDTs). An agency that uses their own frequency for MDTs would be able to use that for GPS as well.

 

[rcvmo]

Been in my fleet since 1995
rcvmo

 

[jparks29]

they have GPS microphones.......used for XTS portables.......they're only about 350$ which is nothing considering they plunked down 5000$ for a portable to begin with....

encodes the location + status on a P25 system, allowing the dispatcher to know WHO pressed their emerrgency button, or updated their status, and EXACTLY where they are....


http://www.telepathcorp.com/art/pdf/XTS5000_GPS_Mic.pdf

 

[N_Jay]

It is happening, but there is more to an AVL system than just "Putting GPS in the unit".

 

[Don_Burke]

They have had location systems like this since at least the 70's. The ones I saw writeups on used LORAN, which can be more accurate than GPS.

I would be surprised to find a high dollar public safety system that did not have a GPS capability.

On the subject of inside buildings, if the portable held the last good position and transmitted that (flagged as such) it would beat the heck out of guessing where the call came from.

 

[N_Jay]

They have had location systems like this since at least the 70's. The ones I saw writeups on used LORAN, which can be more accurate than GPS.

I would be surprised to find a high dollar public safety system that did not have a GPS capability.

On the subject of inside buildings, if the portable held the last good position and transmitted that (flagged as such) it would beat the heck out of guessing where the call came from.

LORAN is less accurate then GPS.

GPS portable systems are still a rarity in public safety. Mobile GPS systems are usually closely related to the implementation of a MDT/MDC system than a voice system, but this is slowly changing.

 

[jhooten]

Police unions are fighting it in some places because it lets the supervisor know when the officers are spending to much time at the donut shop(and for other more legit reasons).

 

[N_Jay]

Police unions are fighting it in some places because it lets the supervisor know when the officers are spending to much time at the donut shop(and for other more legit reasons).

Good rumor.

Many don't like it for that reason, but I have not heard of any fighting (just grumbling).

It is presented as an officer safety issue and they have no argument to stand on.

The old time "Doughnut Shop boys" are dieing off, and the new "College Kids" taking their place would like to get home alive.

 

[gatekeep]

While, not quite a police radio, as far as /\/\ is concerned, the new MotoTRBO series radios has GPS functionality built in ... infact the demo radios I've seen have the standard connectors plus a TNC GPS antenna connector (we're talking the mobile radio NOT the portable).

But I would have to agree that GPS technology has been in use by police agencys for a while.

 

[w0fg]

Departments and companies that use Nextel have that capability in all of their phones/radios, including the ability to monitor locations via the web, set up inclusion/exclusion zones, and use the phones as a timeclock to record times on and off a shift or a job.

 

[spiritwolfpr]

Hello Friends:

Here in Puerto Rico with the Municipality Police of San Juan.
If you key a radio any radio Mobile or hand held they know whitch radio it is.
They also by this means they know if the radio in question does not belongs to the PD.
And they know were the radio is.

 

[jhooten]

Good rumor.

Many don't like it for that reason, but I have not heard of any fighting (just grumbling).

It is presented as an officer safety issue and they have no argument to stand on.

The old time "Doughnut Shop boys" are dieing off, and the new "College Kids" taking their place would like to get home alive.

Go search the forums at officer.com, read the comments on both sides of the issue and then me it is a rumor.

BTW, the college kids are just as prone to slack off as the old guys they just do it at different places, They don't want the shift Sgt to know they have been stationary at the c-store chatting up the good looking clerk for 45 minutes or more than the old guys wanted them to know they were at the donut shop.

Yes I/they know they will loose in the long run, but our unions don't always pick the best battles to engage in.

 

[RolnCode3]

Pryme makes a shoulder mic that has GPS built in as well.

http://www.gpsmic.com/