Fresno Taps IBM For Emergency Communications Service

Fresno Taps IBM For Emergency Communications Service

April 4, 2005 — Interactive handheld devices will be designed with the intent of providing police officers with information in real time; system may serve as hub of region-wide “First Responder” Web

The City of Fresno, California, will deploy an emergency communications system designed and built by IBM to deliver information on demand, with the goal of enhancing police effectiveness and coordination. Initially covering the city, the system may serve as the foundation of a region-wide communications web linking numerous police, fire, ambulance and other first responder units, according to Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer.

The system, owned and operated by Fresno, is designed to allow officers to send and receive text, images and videos via “in-vehicle” computers and handheld personal digital assistants (PDAs); and provide the backbone for an emerging technological capability referred to as “video policing.”

The system is designed to allow police officers and headquarters to communicate during traffic stops, while patrolling the streets on foot, while conducting criminal investigations and while moving through and around buildings. The chief said it will also help police safeguard the city’s critical infrastructure, several federal installations including a strategic wing of the Air National Guard, the Federal Courthouse and part of the nearly $2.8 billion dollars in agricultural products the area produces each year(1).

Fresno’s Chief Dyer said, “Although this capability will certainly be used to enhance Homeland Security in Fresno, its most important contribution is in making the community safer from everyday crime related to gangs, substance abuse and recidivist offenders.”

Read the complete Press Release