News Article - Atlantic Beach Police

They'll always know where police cars are

Atlantic Beach commission approves GPS tracking devices for patrol vehicles.

By Drew Dixon, Reprinted from The Florida Times-Union

ATLANTIC BEACH - All 20 city police cars are about to be equipped with global positioning satellite trans-ponders that will keep track of the movements of each patrol unit every 30 seconds and will allow city officials to know what each car is doing, in what direction it's heading and how fast it's moving.

The City Commission unanimously approved a contract last week with FleetMatics GPS vehicle tracking systems that will place a small GPS transponder in the vehicles that can be tracked on computer.

The cost of the service was already part of the city's budget. Five other city vehicles in addition to the police patrol cars will also have the GPS tracking device, which is about the size of a small cellular telephone.

Assistant City Manager David Thompson, the former police chief, proposed the system. He said the tracking gear is precise.

"The information on where the vehicle is located is updated every 30 seconds," said Thompson. "It tells us specific location. ... We can also tell whether the car is idling, whether it's turned off or whether it's moving. It also calculates the speed of the vehicle."

Thompson said this is the first time a First Coast police force has used the GPS tracking system to pinpoint locations of patrol cars. He said Jacksonville uses a similar system, but only for utility and service vehicles, not police cars.

The system lets dispatchers see which patrol car is closest to a location on an emergency call so the closest officers can be sent. That saves fuel and time and provides more immediate public safety response, Thompson said.

Thompson said the devices will show if a vehicle is idling unnecessarily too long. And it will provide a solid record for officers on their locations should residents lodge false complaints.

"People tend to exaggerate when they're making complaints," Thompson said. "We hear things like that. This allows us to look at the realities. ... It will protect the police officers from unwarranted complaints. It will help protect the public from police officers who are taking advantage of their positions."

Thompson said more trendy and popular video cameras in patrol cars don't let dispatchers know where patrol cars are and sometimes video recordings don't provide specific details on where an emergency or response takes place.

"With GPS tracking, we always know where the car is," Thompson said. "We may not know where the officer is, but we can find the car."

Thompson said he expects the FleetMatics system to be installed within weeks.