Interesting! Serving data via wireless to police cars that may be involved in a 160 km/h chase poses some unique challenges that this article explains.

Like everything else, modern police work is increasingly data intensive and network dependent. But when you are supporting 450 police cruisers spread over a county of 876 square miles (including 214 square miles of water), and “mobile” sometimes means delivering vital data to a vehicle in hot pursuit at more than 100 mph, and lost data could mean the difference between life and death in extreme situations, “rigorous” gains extra emphasis in terms of network performance.

That is exactly the environment in which Mac Magruder, deputy sheriff and MIS director for the Escambia County (Fla.) sheriff’s office, works. Escambia County includes Pensacola and has a population of approximately 315,000. The sheriff’s office has 1,100 employees and is the police force, runs the county jail and also handles more routine tasks such as process serving and prisoner transport.

Data services are vital to modern police operations. When a deputy sheriff pulls over a speeder, he already has basic information on the car — its description, the owner’s name and other information, insurance information, whether it has been reported stolen — on the data screen in his cruiser. As soon as he has the driver’s license, he can get information on the driver, including any police record. “Many crimes are solved and things detected at vehicle stops,” Magruder says. “You can never be sure who is in the car, or what might happen.” Officers have found themselves in unexpectedly dangerous confrontations at vehicle stops, so this information can be vital.