Interesting

Hope Contento is right about our new system.


http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/jan/21 ... adar/?news

Wow he was retired for two whole weeks !

[Trunk Monkey]

.....on full afterburner, with all four turbos, both superchargers, and the solid fuel rockets......my CV will do every bit of 200 mph, and then some.

Its good to see that we laid off all of those city employee's so we can have GPS to watch cops. Priorities, gotta love them priorities. Though there may be a few examples out there where gps helped a cop, I have never heard of a single cop being saved by it. I do hear on a daily basis where administrations have used it to screw cops.

I currently have a Lt. who spends a great deal of his time in front of a computer updating our stats to see where we are and what we are doing. Imagine what fun he would have sitting in front of a computer updating our gps location. I get great evals and have no problems with my activity, but I really don't like the idea of having yet another tool to micromanage under the guise of officer safety.

WARNING!!!! This thread is being HIJACKED!!!!
Everyone Remain at your Computer or I will bombard future posts with Alan Colon stories in old D2 and D3 when it was first formed.

Hey Trunk Monkey!
My old Cro Vic, burned a lot of bitter memories in some peoples minds hereafter, and did every bit of 132 mph, however it was the short haul jaunts that left the most impressions (tire impressions) that is, in the yards of all three Districts, and it was some short haul stints that left some crush damage on cars that got in my way.

What was the original post about anyway!!

Its good to see that we laid off all of those city employee's so we can have GPS to watch cops. Priorities, gotta love them priorities. Though there may be a few examples out there where gps helped a cop, I have never heard of a single cop being saved by it. I do hear on a daily basis where administrations have used it to screw cops.

So are you saying that you don't want a new radio system?? That's where the GPS comes from--the proposed radio system. It's built into the 800mhz radios that we're going to be getting in the next few years. You can't have one without the other.

Some of you people are ridiculous. You b!tch about our radio system, then when you don't like a feature of a real modern communications system, you b!tch about that too.

Its good to see that we laid off all of those city employee's so we can have GPS to watch cops. Priorities, gotta love them priorities. Though there may be a few examples out there where gps helped a cop, I have never heard of a single cop being saved by it. I do hear on a daily basis where administrations have used it to screw cops.

I currently have a Lt. who spends a great deal of his time in front of a computer updating our stats to see where we are and what we are doing. Imagine what fun he would have sitting in front of a computer updating our gps location. I get great evals and have no problems with my activity, but I really don't like the idea of having yet another tool to micromanage under the guise of officer safety.

I remember when TPD officers on foot patrol in downtown Tampa did not have radio communications.

There were "Call Boxes" on many street corners where the officers would periodically stop and telephone the station to see what was going on or to request "the wagon" to come and transport someone they had arrested.

Then there was the period when I began in police work, when we had radios in the patrol cars but no walkie talkies. When you arrived at a scene and stepped out of the car you were out of communications. Incidentally, if you stopped for an on-view incident and failed to tell the dispatcher where you were then your status became unknown.

Next came personal walkie talkies which gave every individual officer the ability to communicate (radio conditions permitting) wherever the officer might be.

Every one of these technological advances could be considered an infringement on the individual officer's autonomy. Just think - a beat officer in downtown Tampa in the 1950's was on his own and completely in charge of his actions. As communications improved the complaint could have been made that the advances constituted "big brother" monitoring his actions.

But we don't think of those advances in such terms. We consider good communications to be imperative to officer safety. Complaints about failures of radio communications always center on officer safety.

I view the GPS in the cars (and someday the GPS in individual walkie talkies) as a continuation of these technological advances. I am also confident that the day will come when everyone considers this to be another officer safety issue. Not having GPS will be a source of concern for those who do not have this safety feature.

With regard to the issue of public access to GPS information, it is clear that there will be a requirement for appropriate legislation to shield this information (both in real time and in historical record) from public access for security reasons. Just as there are laws restricting general public access to law enforcement radio communications, there will have to be similar laws regarding GPS information. The justification for such laws is self evident and there should be no problem in getting them passed.

The use of GPS is not a union/management issue.

It is an officer safety issue.

Accept it and move on.

[Trash Man]

Hey Really Old Guy, do you remember the motormen carrying a blown fuse in their pocket so they could put it in the radio box if they were away from their motor on personal business and got called on it?

Really Old Guy

Firstly, I thank you for your service.

Secondly, I agree with most of your points, except one.
The issue is not simply black or white, on or off.
Specifically, I say it IS a Union, Labor and Management issue.

You see, a long time ago, when you were bustin' people with your slap jack on the forehead for looking at you cross eyed or arresting people for spitting on the sidewalk, well, there was a certain culture and many things were acceptable.

Now I grant you, decades later in Ponce De Leon I also applied the benefits of my night stick quite liberally. As well in Ybor I used my new technolgy (the ASP baton) so much I went through three of them til' they Trespassed me from Ybor. I just articulated diffrent reasons for the CRT and ASP in a lengthy report instead of you puttin on a 3 x 5 index card "Saw drunk, arrested same, when he wouldnt go in the paddy wagon I punched him in the gut with my weighted gloves".

The differnces in time are significant Really Old Guy. When you were on back in the day, a Sergeant would ask for your gun and badge and send you home. You were "fired". Your rights were much more limited than what I had when I came on in the 80's. These days Really Old Guy, officers get called on the carpet for all kinds of chicken chips.

Managment, generally speaking, lacks leadership. There is one Executive Staff member I know who used the word "insidious" to characterize his personal philosophy in trying to "catch" the troops screwing up by his unorthodox methods.

So, as it relates to GPS for Officer Safety, if that is the Intent, then I'm all for at. As far as GPS being a blanket for broad Abuses and malevolent intent from Management, well that is where we disagree.

Montgomery County in Virgiina and other agencies have in their Union contracts that GPS can NOT be used for Disicipline (unless it is a criminal matter)

That is where we need protection from some of our misguided managers.

GPS, when properly and effectively used can locate officers in trouble, aid in quick responses and deploy officers in perimeters, etc.

GPS when used to see if an officer is talking next to a zone partner, going to a 7 11 outside their zone etc will be demoralizing. In that case GPS will be BS.

Really Old Guy, again, I'm proud to be associated with the legacy you guys built up, but our job has changed alot since you left. We are handcuffed by mis management, litigation, video cameras, liberals and restrictive shotgun policies that are overly broad in one sense and burdened with too many details i another. I tell my son to aspire to be a firefighter instead.

I used to work for a small 50 officer department...we had several incidents where an officer, usually rookies, would bail out on foot pursuit and not call out a clear location...to comabt this, the Admin came up with the wonderful idea of GPS!...it would be great, if your in trouble, "they" would be able to locate you immediately and send help...if an in-progress call popped up, "they" could send the nearest unit!....it was going to be great....the problem was: who was "they"...were the dispatchers trained in use of the GPS monitor?...No!...Were the shift supervisors trained in its use?...No!...the ONLY people who knew how, and did, use the system were the Patrol Commander, Mon-Fri 8am-5pm, and the Internal Affairs Commander, MOn-Fri 8am-5pm....neither of "they" could send help when your getting you butt kicked at 0200...but they would damn sure ask why your car sat in one location for an hour, not on a specific call....so forgive me, but I'm always skeptical when an Admin tries to sell the "Officer Safety" line for implementing a GPS system......IMHO