TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Plant City Police Get Big Grant

ADVERTISEMENT

By JAN HOLLINGSWORTH | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 7, 2008

PLANT CITY - The federal government sent Plant City's finest a big check –- a really big check.

The 2-by-4 rendering was presented to Police Chief Bill McDaniel by U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis in a ceremony Friday at 1 Police Place.

Bilirakis secured $131,000 of a spending package signed into law in December.

Part of the $131,000 will buy 85 flash-card-based digital cameras, an improvement over the floppy disc versions currently used to document traffic accidents mishaps and crime scenes.

"Each officer will have one," McDaniel said.

The rest will go toward upgrading laptops in patrol cars that are part of the department's computer-aided dispatch system. About 20 of the department's laptops will be upgraded to allow officers to operate them by touching the screens, an innovation that will enhance safety, McDaniel said.

"It gets the officers eyes off the keyboard," he said.

Touch-screen technology will be phased in as funding allows.

The department made the switch to computers in 1998, resulting immediately in a quicker response time on dispatched calls.

"We literally went overnight from a paper-based system to this," McDaniel told Bilirakis as he gave the Republican congressman a tour of Plant City's sprawling police headquarters.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT