Homeland security challenges for the Washington D.C. police, II

organizations, especially those that can bring diverse expertise to the department.

New media technologies are beginning to permeate MPD operations, albeit slowly. The MPD has a Facebook page, and Twitter is another option. MySpace has “unbelievable amounts of information,” the police chief adds. The new recruits who have entered the department over the past couple of years are well-versed in using social media, and this will help speed their acceptance.

Five years ago, then-chief Charles H. Ramsey cited the need for a “TurboTax for cops” that would fill out police reports in the same manner that the self-help tax software shortens the steps needed for an individual filing a tax return. The MPD has that capability now, and Chief Lanier explains that it is helping speed up report writing and putting information in the hands of crime-solvers more rapidly. This can be important in homeland security/counterterrorism efforts as well.

With this new system, an arresting officer can input data in his or her car computer by digitally answering five basic questions. When those data fields are filled out, other online databases — such as motor vehicle records — add the rest of the information necessary to complete a seven- or 12-page form, thus removing the need for the arresting officer to input redundant data into each page of the form. The system prints out the complete form with all the necessary information in the correct boxes.

MPD police cars have been equipped with computers, which can tie into the closed-circuit television (CCTV) systems that are scanning high-crime areas. Gunshot tracking technology allows a CCTV camera to be turned immediately in the direction of the shot, so officers on patrol can view that camera’s image as they respond to the scene.

Ackerman writes that Lanier credits communication technology with helping improve the district’s homicide closure rate and reduce the homicide rate. ListServes help people provide vital information — sometimes in the form of anonymous tips — that help prevent or solve crimes. The chief allows that she can page thousands of people in the capital with a text alert notifying them to be on the lookout for a fleeing vehicle, for example.

She relates that two weeks after officers began receiving BlackBerry units, the first officer responding to a bank robbery on Wisconsin Avenue requested that a particularly useful image from a surveillance video be e-mailed to a BlackBerry. That image was relayed to a police team