San Mateo Police Get First Metro-Scale Wi-Fi Mesh Network
The San Mateo, California, Police Department (SMPD) has implemented the first metro-scale, Wi-Fi mesh network for law enforcement. The SMPD has created a cellular Wi-Fi hot zone in downtown San Mateo using Tropos Networks, Inc. equipment to make critical applications available to police officers in the field.
“Our Wi-Fi network now allows officers to take their office mobile,” said Susan E. Manheimer, Chief of Police for the SMPD. “It extends to patrol cars access to multiple, secure police databases that were previously restricted to use in the police station. It also allows officers to send reports from their cars to the station, eliminating the need to leave their assigned beats. Because our officers now have broadband access to critical information, they can more quickly solve crimes in our community.”
Using laptops in their police cars, including the Incident Commander’s vehicle and the Mobile Command Center, SMPD officers now have wireless broadband access to LAWNET, a county-wide Intranet for law enforcement that connects officers to the Amber Alert System, the Sex Offender Database and other databases.
From anywhere in the hot zone, officers can now download DMV records, including high resolution photos, conduct in-field photo lineups, and perform other tasks that previously required them to return to headquarters.
In the future, officers will have access to live video feeds of security cameras and access to the city’s Geographic Information System (GIS). As a result, officers are able to spend more time on the beat and now have critical informational tools at their fingertips for more effectively policing the community.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from the .
