The advanced technologies inside the new patrol cars of the Scraning police department helped the police to investigate a deadly shooting last April in North Scranon.
“One of the suspects of Providence Road … They put them on video, running in front of the car,” said the patroller Robert Hegedus, who manages the fleet of the department.
In the past year, Scranon police used the Whelen Cloud platform and other advanced technologies in the department’s patrol vehicles, allowing their new Ford and Dodge SUV to talk to each other. The software, which uses artificial intelligence, is also linked to the bodily cameras of the officers.
It looks like something about a science fiction film or a television crime drama, but the Scranon police service is at the forefront of the new police technology.
“I don’t think you can get a better police car right now that the city of Scranton is planning,” said Hegedus.
Scranton police chief Thomas Carroll said technology helps the main ministry mission, public security. He protects officers and the community.
“A lot of diligence has been put in what we were going to acquire and how we will use it,” he said.
The police service has added 46 new police vehicles since 2023. Former American representative Matt Cartwright obtained a 3.5 million dollars subsidy to improve police security equipment, including new bodily cameras for officers.
Safety technology
The BIP system when patrol cars are approximately 30 seconds from each other. When they present themselves to incidents, their light and red vehicle lights synchronize.
Hegedus said it was less chaotic.
“This is a characteristic of spectacular safety, because we have lost vehicles in the past where people have led to the back of the cars and destroy the vehicle … It ended up costing us an officer who has been injured for a few more than two years now because of this; he was in the vehicle at the time that he was struck,” said Hegedus.
Then there are the registration features.
“It can take any video we capture in the field from these cameras, and she will download it to the cloud,” said Hegedus. The officers or detectives also working on crime can access this information in real time for the time surveys, he added.
Passing license plates are recorded
The cameras are mounted on the WGV windshield. The officers have reached a record or activate their sirens to record the action.
“In three seconds, he will start to record, and he activates your body cam,” he said. “We have a lot of features in this car that activates body cam. If you open your pistol lock, it activates body cam … If you lose your weapon, it activates body cam and all those around you.”
Hegedus underlined the North Scranton shot. Robert Dawson, 32, was shot dead after a fight that started on the basketball field of a city park.
These images are used for surveys and in court.
“I think the best party on this is transparency,” said Carroll. “We have very professional police officers, and we don’t mind showing it.”
There is also a vehicle respondent technology. The system sends alerts to GPS systems on mobile phones and cars to alert drivers to the location of emergency vehicles.
The cars also record all the license plates that the officers pass by patrol.
New cars even help canine officers.
“If the car becomes too hot, it will activate the alarms in the car, so that the lights and the sirens flash, the windows will fall, an auxiliary fan will take place, will light up, then it will send a signal to the mobile phone of the agent,” said Hegedus.
“A precious resource on the road”
New vehicles are like police on wheels with wifi and a mounted laptop.
Hegedus said that when he started as a police officer 17 years ago, they led Ford Crown Victorias with radio and mermaid boxes on the ground.
“We have to call everything on the radio. Now you can manage people’s registration plates here. You can manage people’s licenses here, you can go to the website that is available for the police, shoot their driving story and things like that,” he said, sitting in the front of one of the Fords. “You can print the quotes here. We all do them in vehicles. No more manuscripts.”
The Department seeks trends, both locally and nationally and educates their officers on the latest technologies and practices.
For this reason, Carroll said that the Scranon police service is an industry leader. He is proud of his officers.
“We put a precious resource on the road to fight against crime, and we have proven it repeatedly, especially last year,” he said.