Village of Pleasant Prairie | Services | Police


Building Inspection Department Channel 25 Clean Water Utility Engineering Fire & Rescue Garbage Recycling & Hazardous Waste Planning, Zoning & Community Development Photos Police About PPPD News Releases Crime Prevention K-9 Unit Technology Online Survey Contact Us Daily Incident Log Public Works Road Maintenance Utility Department	Home > Services > Police > Technology Pleasant Prairie Police Department Technology We live in an information age. More than ever before, it is difficult to function effectively in society without access to information. This is certainly the case in law enforcement where access to quality information in a timely manner is often the key to a successful outcome. The Village of Pleasant Prairie has been highly innovative with respect to the use of technology in law enforcement. The Pleasant Prairie Police Department was among the first agencies in the State of Wisconsin to mount computers in its squad cars. The department was the first law enforcement agency in Kenosha County to publish a website. The Police Departments www.pppd.info site has recorded almost 50,000 visits to date and is used both by media and citizens to keep up to date on the activities of the police department through the site's daily incident list which is updated each day. Mobile Data Computers Normally when you think of a police car you might think about the lights, siren, radio or the markings that the car might have. In Pleasant Prairie, our police cars have all of those things plus a lot more. Pleasant Prairie's police cars are literally buzzing with the latest in communications and computer technology, much of which has been purchased with federal dollars through Community Oriented Policing grant funding. Pleasant Prairie's Police cars are equipped with lap top computers which communicate with the dispatch center and which serve to keep track of the status of all other police units on duty. An officer can look at the status screen and very quickly determine what units are available and what units are busy. In addition to status, the system supports messaging between all of the units and the dispatch center both privately and publicly with an announcement feature. Most important however is the access to information provided by the mobile data system. Officers have the ability to instantly access vehicle registration, drivers license, criminal history and warrant/wanted files nation-wide. All of this information is available to the officer out in the car with just a couple of keystrokes. The mobile data system is also interfaced to the department's CAD and RMS systems enabling officers to query the local records database remotely from the car. Computer Aided Dispatch The Pleasant Prairie Police Department uses a Computer Aided Dispatch or CAD system to manage the processing of calls for service and the status of on duty Police, Fire and Rescue units. This system, which is interfaced with the department's records management system, makes unit recommendations for calls for service based on the type of call, location of the call, officer assignment and current unit status. The CAD system tracks prior calls to address, flags hazards located at an address, tracks location and availability of other resources such as fire hydrants in the area and tracks unit response times. This system is also interfaced with the Village's Mobile Data System and sends call assignments directly to the mobile data screen in the police vehicle. Officers can then update their status and the call resolution with just a few keystrokes directly from the car. Records Management System Calls for service that are initiated by the CAD system are automatically forwarded to the department's records management system or RMS. The RMS is a largely paperless system where officers enter narrative reports directly into the system. This saves on the costs associated with the purchase and storage of paper records. The RMS then holds the record, which can be printed when needed. Case photos can be included in the record as well as extraneous documents such as state accident reports and witness statements that are scanned into and attached to the case. In addition to calls for service records dating back to 1987, the RMS includes a master name index that currently has more than 100,000 names on file. Each master name index record lists that persons contacts with the department, their description, known associations, and other identifying data and may if available have photos attached. The RMS is also interfaced to the mobile data system making much of its data available to police officers on the street with just a few keystrokes.