Police officers bicycling through Lake County, Fla., used to pester dispatch in order to run a suspicious license plate. And-even worse-everyone within earshot of the officers could listen in to their radio conversation and could, if needed, quietly duck out.
Now, with a new wireless offering from Aether Systems Inc. called PocketBlue, Lake County officers can discretely check license numbers by simply tapping the information into a Palm Inc. handheld device and accessing the Department of Motor Vehicles database.
“The PocketBlue system does just what we need-it puts the information in the hand, or pocket, of officers in bike, undercover, mounted, investigative and marine units,” said Lake County Sheriff George E. Knupp Jr. “Unlike PCs, laptops and radios, the handhelds drop into the officer’s pocket or under the seat for quick and inconspicuous access to critical information.”
Other uses of Aether’s offering could be even more advantageous to police officers across the country, allowing them to stay quiet during a stakeout, concealed while undercover or silent when calling for some desperately needed backup.
“You know how some use the phrase `mission-critical’ in a business sense?” asked David Grip, director of marketing and communications for Aether’s mobile government division. “Well, this literally is `mission critical’-you’re talking about the difference between life and death.”
That’s the issue behind Aether’s new law enforcement offering. The service-which works on Palm’s Vx, Research In Motion Ltd.’s 950 and 957 Wireless Handhelds and Symbol’s SPT 1733 handheld-gives officers wireless access to a wide variety of databases. With the push of a button, an officer could check the National Crime Information Center and the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System databases, as well as DMV information.
This access gives officers on bikes, horses or foot quick information about vehicles, people, articles or guns. In addition, the service supports secure text messaging, user-to-user communications and sends an alert to other users, including dispatch, if an officer calls up information on a stolen car or a dangerous person.
This way, “you’ve got a coordinated response going,” Grip said.
While other companies now offer wireless handheld services to law enforcement agencies, Aether said PocketBlue is the only one that tips all users, including headquarters and dispatch, into what’s happening. Aether said all PocketBlue users stay connected with real-time access, silent and secure communication and system-wide alarms.
Another plus for Aether is that the company has quite a bit of experience to fall back on in the law enforcement arena. Its mobile government division serves about 1,000 law enforcement agencies, as well as 2,000 emergency service offices and almost 15 federal entities, including the U.S. Postal Service.
“The government division within Aether is a key strategic area,” Grip said. “Government has been one of the early adopters.”
Sales in Aether’s government division are largely due to its PacketCluster and FireRMS offerings, which the company gained by acquiring Cerulean Technology Inc. and Sunpro Corp. Grip boasted that almost 50,000 police officers across the country use PacketCluster, which is a laptop-based wireless system allowing officers and rescue personnel to access all kinds of information, including DMV databases.
And PocketBlue isn’t the end of Aether’s stretch into the mobile government area.
“We see this as the beginning of what we call a mobile government revolution,” Grip said.
