UNH’s high-tech police cruiser goes national
Project54 installed in California and Maryland
         
By Robert Emro, CEPS

Project54, the innovative police cruiser technology developed by UNH researchers and tested by New Hampshire police, is now being installed by law enforcement agencies in other states.

The Maryland State Police is installing Project54 in 90 cars to start, and is considering converting its entire patrol fleet of 1,000 vehicles. “We looked at other systems, but they all had inherent dangers to the police officers. For example, if the computer crashed, the officer couldn’t use the radio,” said Lt. Chet Smith of the MSP. “We think that Project54 has the best working system out there of the ones that we’ve seen.”

The state-of-the art technology–which gives police voice-activated control of devices such as light bars, sirens, radios, records checks, radar guns, video cameras, license scanners and GPS units–has been installed in 250 New Hampshire vehicles to date, with more state and local police cruisers scheduled to receive it.

The Carlsbad, Calif. Police Department already has Project54 in 20 of its cruisers and plans to have it in all 50 of its squad cars by spring. Capt. Dale Stockton of the Carlsbad police said that Project54’s hands-free control is allowing his department to equip its patrol cars with modern office technology without distracting drivers.

“I really believe in this,” said of the Carlsbad PD. “I think it is an incredible addition to the patrol car in terms of functionality and safety.”

Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH), who secured initial funding for Project54 in 1999, recently secured an additional $5.75 million for 2005. The money is allocated for three areas: $3 million for further development and testing, $2 million for deployment with local police departments and $750,000 for records interoperability at the N.H. Division of Motor Vehicles.

The latest funding brings the total secured by Gregg for Project54 to $27.5 million since its inception. Besides development, testing and deployment of the system in state and local police cars, the funding has paid for data server computers, records management software and dispatching upgrades for the New Hampshire Department of Safety to integrate police cruisers into state-wide data networks and help automate the handling of law enforcement information.