IN BRIEF: Oklahoma City Police honored for technology

Published: November 4, 2008

OKLAHOMA CITY

POLICE HONORED FOR TECHNOLOGY

The International Association of Chiefs of Police presented the 2008 Excellence in Technology Award for large organizations to the Oklahoma City Police Department for innovative use of technology to get critical information to officers in the field. The award recognizes the department’s state-of-the-art broadband wireless communications system. Oklahoma City owns and operates the largest municipal wireless mesh network in the world, according to a city press release. The network covers a 555-square-mile area with 95 percent service coverage in the city’s core.

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WWI VETERANS GET LAKE HONOR

Oklahoma City officials will unveil a plaque that pays tribute to Oklahoma’s World War I veterans and observe the 90th anniversary of the Armistice at 1:30 p.m. Friday at the Lake Overholser Dam, 1800 Overholser Dr. The public is invited. When the Overholser Dam was completed in 1918, the final touch was an inscription commemorating "Oklahoma Boys” in what was then called "The World War.” The inscription is no longer visible to the public but now is part of the new plaque, along with history of Oklahoma City’s first water supply reservoir and dam.

GROUP RECALLS NATIVE HISTORY

The Society to Preserve Indigenous Rights and Indigenous Traditions is hosting a celebration to commemorate American Indians’ part in Oklahoma’s history and future. "Red Heart, Red Land, Red People” will begin at 10 a.m. Nov. 15 at the South State Capitol Park, NE 16 Street and Lincoln Boulevard. Speakers, singers, musicians, drum groups and bands will provide a full day of entertainment and cultural sharing.

FOREST OWNERS GET TAX BREAK

Forest landowners with reforestation expenses or timber harvest income in 2008 may be able to take advantage of tax incentives offered by the federal government, according to the state Department of Agriculture. Free copies of the Tax Tips for Forest Landowners for the 2008 tax year are available from the State Forester’s office at 2800 N Lincoln Blvd. "The tax tips include a discussion of two of the best incentives for landowners to plant and grow trees for timber production — the reforestation tax credit and capital gains treatment of timber income,” said State Forester John Burwell. Call 522-6158 or visit www.forestry.ok.gov for more information.

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While there has been great leaps in technology, there have been a few steps behind. One is interoperability. First of all, the system was ramrodded into existence due to the deaths of officer Rominger and trooper Matt Evans. The premise was that had Rominger been able to convey that he was headed toward Matt with a high speed chase, Matt would have been able to avoid the collision. At the time, some trooper cars had up to 6 radios for the interoperability. The new system was supposed to reduce that count to 1 radio per car. There lies the problem. Oklahoma City uses the most sophisticated communications system in the world. It is even used by our military in worldwide theaters of engagement. The troopers use a much less sophisticated system in order to include rapid communication between Moore, Edmond, Norman, Village, Nichols Hills, Midwest City, Shawnee, Ok County, and dozens of other hamlets. One system is a cocoon of coverage for departments from 5 officers to hundreds. Oklahoma City PD is NOT a part of that system. So, you have what they call a communications nexus between Oklahoma City police and 40 other agencies. The crux of this nexus working effectively is linking of radio systems and then decoding the highly multiply-encrypted data from OKC and passing it along to the state 800 system. Easy you say. No. Two dozen things can and often do go wrong in the link. Think of this analogy to help you imagine the problem. A person speaking chinese wishes to order a pizza while using a cellphone from Verizon. The pizza restaurant uses Cox Digital for their phone service. The Chinese person makes the call and its passed from one a tower to a computer to a dozen translators and then to Pizza Hut. The person at Pizza Hut answers and the Chinese person does not know English. SO a person working at Pizza Hut does speak Chinese but not the same dialect. So the pizza hut person tries to translate the information to English so the computer at Pizza Hut can place the order. How has this hurt things? If Officer Rominger were headed down I-40 today and Matt Evans were headed the same way, officer Rominger pushes an alert button on his radio and hopefully he can put out a broadcast about the chase. Does OCPD do that now? No, they do not because it causes more harm than good.
John, Stigler - Nov 4, 2008 at 1:43 pm
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