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FIRST
METRO-SCALE, WI-FI MESH NETWORK FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT NOW OPERATIONAL
WITH THE SAN MATEO POLICE DEPARTMENT ON PATROL DOWNTOWN |
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Large Wi-Fi Coverage Area Gives Police Officers Unprecedented
Access to Critical Databases and Information from the Field
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SAN MATEO, CA, September 17, 2003
Underscoring the company’s commitment to delivering
ubiquitous broadband wireless networking solutions to public
safety agencies, Tropos Networks™, Inc., today announced
that the San Mateo, California, Police Department (SMPD) has
successfully implemented, trialed and is now using the first
metro-scale, Wi-Fi mesh network for law enforcement. The SMPD
has created a cellular Wi-Fi hot zone in downtown San Mateo
using Tropos™ equipment and, for the first time, is making
available critical applications to police officers in the field. |
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“Our Wi-Fi network now allows officers
to take their office mobile,” said Susan E. Manheimer,
Chief of Police for the SMPD. “It extends to patrol cars
access to multiple, secure police databases that were previously
restricted to use in the police station. It also allows officers
to send reports from their cars to the station, eliminating
the need to leave their assigned beats. Because our officers
now have broadband access to critical information, they can
more quickly solve crimes in our community.” |
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Using laptops in their police cars, including
the Incident Commander’s vehicle and the Mobile Command
Center, SMPD officers now have, for the first time, wireless
broadband access to LAWNET, a county-wide Intranet for law enforcement
that connects officers to the Amber Alert System, the Sex Offender
Database and other databases. From anywhere in the hot zone,
officers can now download DMV records, including high resolution
photos, conduct in-field photo lineups, and perform other tasks
that previously required them to return to headquarters. In
the future, officers will have access to live video feeds of
security cameras and access to the city’s Geographic Information
System (GIS). As a result, officers are able to spend more time
on the beat and now have critical informational tools at their
fingertips for more effectively policing the community. |
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Broadband Access Critical to Public
Safety Sector
According to a survey from one industry analyst firm, public
safety – including law enforcement, fire, corrections
and emergency management organizations – is expected to
spend about $7 billion on information technology in 2003. Of
the $3.5 billion provided in federal funding to state and local
government first responders, about one-third was earmarked for
communications technologies. |
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Significant investments are being made in
technologies such as in-vehicle and hand-carried computers which need broadband connectivity to be effective,
according to Tropos Networks. The public safety sector wants to provide the same access to
data in the field as is available in headquarters and, thereby,
afford savings in manpower and time while improving overall
public safety. Technology like Tropos equipment provides the
large scale coverage that they need and greatly enhances the
return on these investments |
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“Public safety organizations are looking
for ubiquitous wireless broadband access solutions to fulfill
critical and growing public safety demands. Specifically, they
need to more broadly extend the reach of their data communications
capabilities to improve efficiency and productivity as well
as emergency responsiveness,” said Dave Hanna, president
and CEO of Tropos Networks. “With broadband access now
to its major databases and applications, the SMPD is at the
forefront of this movement.” |
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“Public safety agencies continue to
make significant investments in in-vehicle and hand-held computers
although their application capabilities are limited by the bandwidth
of traditional private and commercial radio networks,”
said Brian Hudson, vice president at Thayer Consulting. “We
are excited about the SMPD deployment and are hopeful that technologies
such as Tropos metro-scale Wi-Fi can provide the high bandwidth
and secure communications we’ve been waiting for to provide
enhanced, graphic intensive applications to public safety personnel
in a cost effective manner.” |
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SMPD’s Hot Zone Wi-Fi Network
The SMPD constructed their hot zone using 17 Wi-Fi cells from
Tropos Networks in a mesh configuration in downtown San Mateo
with only two backhaul connections at strategic locations to
the city’s fiber ring. With the Tropos Wi-Fi cells, the
SMPD was able to create a reliable, large scale Wi-Fi network
that would have otherwise been economically and logistically
unfeasible to do. The SMPD’s accomplishment differs significantly
from attempts by some police departments to use 802.11 hot spot
technology which requires officers to drive to specific sites
for wireless information access and is too costly and impractical
for implementing large coverage areas. |
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The SMPD said it also has plans to further
expand the hot zone with the ultimate goal of covering the city’s
critical crime areas so that police officers have access to
vital information anytime, anywhere within their beats. Once
complete, the SMPD also plans to allow fire, public works and
other city departments to have access with VPN sessions to the
large Wi-Fi network. In total, the SMPD will deploy nearly 40
Tropos Wi-Fi cells. |
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About Tropos Networks, Inc.
Tropos Networks, Inc., is a leading supplier of systems used
to build metro-scale Wi-Fi networks. Tropos products enable
network operators, service providers and government departments
to provide ubiquitous, metro-scale, broadband, wireless data
coverage for users in any locale. Tropos solution creates a
truly wireless network, free from the requirement of per node
wired connectivity associated with Wi-Fi hot spot deployments
using access points. Tropos products enable larger coverage
areas, decreased installation costs and decreased operational
costs. Formerly FHP Wireless, Inc., Tropos Networks is headquartered
in San Mateo, California. For more information, please visit
www.tropos.com,
call 650-286-4250 or write to
info@tropos.com. |
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Tropos Networks and Tropos are trademarks of Tropos Networks,
Inc. All other brand or product names are trademarks or registered
trademarks of their respective holder(s). |
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About the San Mateo Police Department
San Mateo is the pre-eminent city between San Francisco and
San Jose with a diverse population of over 90,000 residents.
It is the cultural center of the county and has a strong, attractive
commercial community, and wholesome neighborhoods. The San Mateo
Police Department is dedicated to providing the highest level
of police service to all persons within San Mateo. Fairness,
equality, justice, and the highest standards of professional
ethics are our guiding principles in executing our duties and
obligations. |
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For additional information on San Mateo and the SMPD, visit
the city’s website at www.cityofsanmateo.org.
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