[Slammed]

July 18, 2005
Handheld Crime Fighting
By Colin C. Haley


Police officers use dash-mounted laptops in cruisers to access criminal databases. But what if they're patrolling on foot, bike or horse? A telecom giant and a mobile software specialist think they have the answer.

Cingular and BIO-key International (Quote, Chart) have launched a service that lets officials check vehicle information, stolen vehicle reports, weapon registrations and outstanding warrants through RIM's Blackberry device or through Pocket PC-powered PDAs. They also can send text messages and e-mail for inconspicuous communications with dispatchers.

"Public safety has a need for quick and reliable communications to get access to critical information," John Kampfe, a Cingular spokesman, told internetnews.com.

The U.S. Capitol Police, Federal Protective Services and Oklahoma County Sheriff Office are already using the joint offering, which costs $44.99 per month per user, plus a software license fee, Kampfe said.

He declined to estimate the total number of officers using the service. A BIO-key spokeswoman was not immediately available for comment.

The service uses Cingular's nationwide wireless data network and BIO-Key's PocketCOP software. In addition to interoperability with databases and computer systems, the partners paid close attention to security.

PocketCOP features end-to-end encryption, user ID, password and device authentication at log-on, plus audit trail via log server to monitor the use of the device. Cingular's network also includes encryption with authentication protocols.

Cingular, a joint venture between BellSouth (Quote, Chart) and SBC Communications (Quote, Chart), is the nation's largest wireless operator.

The Atlanta-based company said it has several corporate customers in the public safety sector, including the Missouri Highway Patrol, Honolulu Police Department and MassPort, an independent authority that manages Boston's Logan International Airport and the Port of Boston.

BIO-key, of Wall, N.J., is heavily involved with law enforcement. In addition to PocketCOP, it sells biometric finger identification technology to authenticate users of wireless and enterprise data services.




http://www.internetnews.com/wireless...le.php/3521091

[BlackBerry Geek!]

that will be sweeet if we can some how get this app!

[VprV10]

I have seen a couple demo's for this product. it works nice. it's main problem is that it is tied to cingular. seems the law enforcement community in my area are tied to nextel for their DC ability. Nextel offers a similar product i believe for less money and no licensing fee. there is also another product called info cop.
Back in january my chief wanted me to research all this fun stuff. Before then i wanted nothing to do with a bb device. the department got me one for testing and there isn't anyway i'm given this thing back! I can connect to HQ and perform almost any task i may need to do from fixing an officer's mistake to administrating our servers.

[Blackberry1.8T]

Originally Posted by VprV10

I have seen a couple demo's for this product. it works nice. it's main problem is that it is tied to cingular. seems the law enforcement community in my area are tied to nextel for their DC ability. Nextel offers a similar product i believe for less money and no licensing fee. there is also another product called info cop.
Back in january my chief wanted me to research all this fun stuff. Before then i wanted nothing to do with a bb device. the department got me one for testing and there isn't anyway i'm given this thing back! I can connect to HQ and perform almost any task i may need to do from fixing an officer's mistake to administrating our servers.

That an application worthe waiting for. Who would have thought that we would have wireless technology like this back in the day. It's truely incredible, I wonder what the history is behind the BB, how it got started, who started it, how they thought of this idea to begin with. Anywho, looks like you've been bitten by the BB bug. I just wish that the devices were smaller, like the size of the Audiovox SMT5600 and the camera would be nice too. That would be awesome, I guess we'll have to wait to see that happen.

Off topic but I though the VIPER was a 12cylinder not a 10... do you drive a viper?

[Soapm]

HHHhhhmmm??? Law enforcement may want camera's so they can take pictures of detained suspects and MMS them real time to the field for positive id. They can also use them for the gang file. Who knows what else it might be useful for???

[VprV10]

No camera needed. we currently use digital for our mugshots and can email to anywhere.
the most important use: the chief can use a bb from anywhere to sign on and look at our dispatch screens. (the reason i tasked with the project) I have finished my proof of concept and of course i'm still waiting for funding for full solution!



Nope viper is a v10. over simplified the v10 is a 318 v8 with 2 extra cylinders grafted on. which really makes me wonder because their 3.9 v6 is a 318 with 2 cylinders lopped off. nope don't own one (yet) have driven a couple. (up until 99 worked as a service manager for chrysler corp dealers).

[jbairdjr]

Our agency is using a product known as Voyager. ATS Public Safety owns voyager now, and we partnered with them when Cingular was ATT here.
Voyager works on almost any handheld, and laptops. I use it on my 7100g, and we are also deploying it on several Pocket PC devices.
Voyager's service only demands that you have a connection to the internet. I believe that Bio Key's software also only needs this. We use Packet Cluster Mobile in our cruisers, which is a Bio Key product.