September 20, 2000

This is State Radio Project - Status Report #6. Anyone desiring copies of previous reports, please let me know and I will send them right out.

Last week was a particularly busy one for me. I logged 1040 road miles in three days, with presentations being made to the Sheriffs and Chiefs meeting and the Telecommunicators meeting at the WPOA (Wyoming Peace Officers Association) conference in Riverton on Wednesday. Thank you to the WPOA for making it possible for me to participate. At the Sheriffs and Chiefs meeting, I showed a short video that had been made for Eagle County, Colorado, which showed problems they have with the various public safety entities not being able to talk to one another, and the benefits they will realize after the implementation of a digital trunked system. At the end of the video there wasn't a lot of comment from the audience, but I could see heads nodding in agreement as the sheriffs and chiefs thought about similar problems in their own jurisdictions.

On Thursday, Joe Ahern and I presented an update on the project to the SALECS Commissioners meeting in Casper. Joe announced that the Motorola business case notebook had been given to the Governor for his perusal. We also stated that the Strategic Alliance/Memorandum of Understanding form had been approved by the Attorney General's Office. We don't have any feedback from the Governor yet.

After the SALECS meeting I drove to the Pahaska Teepee Resort (east entrance to Yellowstone) in order to present to the Transportation Committee and the Public Safety Committee of WAM (Wyoming Association of Municipalities), on Friday morning. Thanks to WAM for making it possible for me to be there. The mayors and city councilmen and women are all very supportive of the concept of the project. I gave a general outline of the Strategic Alliance agreement and the Public Safety Committee is going to recommend to the membership that they sign and return their copies as soon as they are received. This will lend a great deal of credence to our efforts to approach the legislature for funding, and that this is a cooperative project which has general support throughout the state.

I haven't had an opportunity to present the most recent information to the County Commissioner's Association, but members are receiving these status reports, so information is being distributed to them.

During my travels, I added two more Sheriffs, two more Chief's of Police, the director of the Wyoming Highway Patrol, several City Councilmen, a dispatcher from Rawlins, and a Federal planning officer from Yellowstone National Park to my e-mail broadcast list, so this information is going directly to over 100 people now. Please share it with anyone you think might be interested, and, as always, if there are any questions, please let me know.

After my signature block I've included a recent article about mobile data terminals being installed in Highway Patrol cars in the state of Pennsylvania. Very interesting stuff.

Respectfully submitted,

Kent Drummond

Project Coordinator

Statewide Public Safety Radio

(307)777-3627

Pennsylvania linking patrol cars to databases

BY Eric Kulisch 08/24/2000

The Pennsylvania State Police is the latest public safety agency to enable workers to access information on vehicle-mounted laptop computers.

Police officials in Pennsylvania say computer technology could liberate patrolmen from bureaucratic requirements so they can spend more time enforcing the law.

Using the "mobile offices," troopers will be able to request information on national and state vehicle registrations, driver's licenses and wanted people. Data will be transmitted via the Statewide Public Safety Radio System.

Negotiations on a contract for as many as 1,100 mobile offices are expected to stretch until late September, said Ronald Wilt, program manager for the State Police Bureau of Technology Services. The contract could be worth $12 million to $15 million. Motorola Inc. is the preferred supplier to install laptop computers with wireless capabilities in State Police patrol vehicles.

The department has also awarded Lockheed Martin Management Data Systems a $9 million contract to integrate the new Criminal Investigative/Traffic Safety Incident Information Management System. Wilt said as the department develops the IIMS during the next three years:

* Police will be able to file reports electronically to headquarters.

* Dispatch centers will be able to send maps to assist in locating incidents.

* Units will have secure communications with other cars and the station.

* Troopers will be able to scan bar codes on driver's licenses and

registrations.

The State Police estimated that a trooper spends about four hours completing paperwork for each hour assigned to an incident. When the system is in place, that time could be cut by half or more.

The Harrisburg police station will receive the mobile offices in stages from November through April, Wilt said. The rest of the force will be equipped during a subsequent 18-month period, he added.

Respectfully submitted,

Kent Drummond

Project Coordinator

Wyoming Cooperative Communications Network

(307)777-3627