Working Together Gets Easier For Police
Houston is using Incident Commander’s Radio Interference (ICRI), a small black box that allows police officers from different local towns who have different kinds of radio frequencies to communicate directly with Houston officers during emergencies.
Houston now owns 10 ICRIs, which cost around $10,000 apiece and were purchased with federal grant money made available to local police departments following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Some of Houston’s ICRIs are mounted in patrol cars, while others are portable.
The ICRI recently helped officers from different jurisdictions work together to catch two suspects who committed armed robbery and then led police on a multi-county car chase.
The device was rigorously tested in all kinds of environments–high-rises, tunnels, the hulls of ships, etc.–before it was selected, says Orlando Marquez, senior police telecommunicator with the Houston Police Department.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from the Houston Chronicle (08/13/05) P. B1; Bardwell, S.K.
