Police upgrade software

Lolita Harper

After using the same computer system for 24 years, the Costa Mesa

Police Department is implementing the first phase of a technology

overhaul this week that comes complete with added benefits and minor

hiccups.

Computer experts have been milling around the department for days,

installing and putting into service the first phase of a new system

designed to upgrade the mobile terminals in patrol cars and 911

dispatching, Costa Mesa Police Lt. John FitzPatrick said. The new

system combines the Computer Aided Dispatch program -- largely known

as CAD -- with the Records Management System, allowing for better

access and organization for the entire department.

“The big factor in all this is that our old computer system didn’t

keep up with the industry, so now we are playing technical catch-up,”

FitzPatrick said.

While the hardware has not changed, police will now utilize a

Windows-based program from their terminals, he said. The mixing of

the old with the new, of high-powered software and old computers, has

caused some inevitable glitches and frustrations, he said.

Technical difficulties that affect the public are limited to

communication, as daily police files and arrest logs have not been

regularly available in the past week, but department officials are

confident the bugs will be worked out.

“Our old system was 24 years old, so obviously we are going

through some growing pains, coupled with the learning curve,”

FitzPatrick said.

Costa Mesa Police Lt. Karl Schuler has been with the department 28

years, before they even had computers, but said he hasn’t had any

trouble with the new system thus far. Schuler has attended classes on

the new computer system, and said applying those basic concepts is a

learning process. Schuler, who has lived through many changes as the

department, said he is taking it “day by day.”

“I was here when they had printers in the car and they would print

us the information we needed,” Schuler said. “Then those went away

and we didn’t have computers for awhile, until 24 years ago, when

they were the latest thing. Now we’ve got the new system, so we’re

rolling with it.”

When all three phases are complete, the goal is to move to a

paperless system and have everything streamlined, with integrated

mapping, a better crime analysis database and increased

communication, FitzPatrick said. The second phase includes work on

the mobile computer units in each patrol car and the third phase

would allow officers to file reports directly from their dashboard

terminals, he said. Reports are handwritten at the department.

“We are hoping for a system where our officers can type their

report in his car, send it to the watch commander for approval and

then to records management, which keeps the officers in the field,”

he said.