Computers Expected for Police Cars

VENTURA —  City police officers may soon be taking the information superhighway to new levels.

The City Council on Monday is poised to award a $521,000 contract that will make Ventura the first law enforcement agency in the county to install computers in police cars.

Already in use in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and other agencies nationwide, the system puts criminal history, driver’s license, car registration and department data bases at officers’ fingertips.

Better yet, police officials say, the system’s e-mail feature offers authorities the kind of clarity and confidentiality that traditional radio communications never will.

“They eliminate a lot of the voice communication we use and they’ll provide a lot more information in the field than officers have right now, and much more confidentially,” Police Lt. Carl Handy said. “We’re real excited about it.”

The system, which operates with keyboards and touch-screen monitors in the front seat and modems mounted in the trunk, is expected to be in operation by December.

Computers will initially be installed in 27 police cars and in the vehicle of one Fire Department battalion chief. They may be expanded in the future to other city emergency vehicles.

Officials at other agencies in the county are watching closely and mulling patrol car computer systems themselves.

The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department hopes to install such a system in hundreds of cars that patrol unincorporated county areas and Camarillo, Fillmore, Moorpark, Ojai and Thousand Oaks.

But the project is at least three years away and carries an estimated $5-million price tag, Chief Deputy Bob Brooks said.

The department’s goal, he said, is to eliminate time-consuming paperwork by using computers to record names, driver’s license numbers and other basic information and to update criminal reports.

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Having detailed information on-line would not only make deputies’ jobs easier, but would also free up dispatchers to focus on more pressing matters.

“It’s an incredible waste of time,” Brooks said. “Even on the most simple of events . . . dispatchers already have a flood of requests” for help from deputies seeking information.

In Simi Valley, a committee is already studying the costs of installing computers in its patrol cars.

And in Oxnard, the desire is certainly there--the department has even sent teams to study systems operating in other agencies--but the money is not.

“We’d love to have it,” Oxnard Cmdr. Gary Amar said.

Handy said law enforcement officials in Ventura have spent years amassing state and federal grants to get the system on-line. About 85% of the cost of the new system has come through state and federal grants, figures show.

Still, the cost does not end with the first flick of the “on” switch, city analysts say.

Officials project that at the end of the second year of operation, when hardware and software warranties expire, annual maintenance costs will run $40,000.

The cost of the first two years of maintenance is included in the purchase price, officials said.

Chi is a Times staff writer and Warchol is a correspondent.