The new recruit and the veteran officer find themselves in the midst of an ever changing world of technology, laws, training and equipment.   The day of the night stick and six shooter has evolved to a log-in code and night vision optics.  Our squad cars have computers in them, our pistols have "rails" to accomodate laser sights and flashlights, we have GPS that keeps dispatch up to date on where we are at all times.  The innovative "OC Spray" of yesterday is fastly becoming obsolete, companion products include the taser and new smart technology to subdue criminals.  All of this new technology helps us in our goal to Serve and Protect.  In the 1950s and 60s, larger local stations took emergency calls and dispatched police patrols to investigate.  Today communications center technology has moved in leaps and bounds to the modern day situation, where sophisticated systems are used to take calls from the public and dispatch emergency resources.  Fire, Ambulance and Police share much of the same technology and work closely together, the center of which is changing and evolving technology.

Tactical Footwear - Original TRAC

McMillan Tactical Arms

Para Ordinance - 1911 Platform

Spitfire Pepper Spray

Arturito, the Crime-Solving Robot
In its first use by Chilean police, Arturito scanned a farmhouse for the body of a businessman who’d been missing for over a year. Within two hours, the robot had pinpointed the location of the body — under 12 feet of concrete. Named as a take-off on R2D2 from Star Wars, Arturito has also discovered buried treasure and was built to sniff out land mines. Arturito discovered the remains of businessman Francisco Yuraszeck, who went missing in 2004. In both investigations officials called in the Wagner Technologies robot after being unable to solve the cases by traditional investigative techniques.

Pot Farm Found With Google Earth
Swiss police located a pot farm with the help of Google’s satellite image software.  With the address of suspected farmers in hand, all the police had to do was plug in the address and look for the sketchy patch of green. Authorities seized 1.2 tons of marijuana and arrested 16 people.   Officers found the hemp field in the northeastern canton (state) of Thurgau while investigating an alleged drug ring," said Norbert Klossner the head of Zurich narcotics unit.  Officers found the nearly two acre plantation hidden inside a cornfield.  They were searching for the addresses of two farmers suspected in the drug operation when they found the illegal crop.   "It was an interesting chance discovery," said Klossner.  The accused drug dealers allegedly sold up to 7 tons of hashish and marijuana between 2004 and last year.   Authorities in the U.S. recently utilitzed Google Earth also to help bust a suspected drug dealer.  Authorities in Racine, Wisconsin used Google Earth after they arrested a suspect with freshly harvested pot in his car and wearing a GPS device around his neck.  Officers plugged the co-ordinates into Google Earth and using satellite images found marijuana tied to cornstalks growing in the ground.    
The idea of using this type technology is not so new.  It's just that it's immediately available now.  A decade ago, the North Little Rock Police used private satellite imaging to try and find a car at a house at the time of a murder.  While they were able to get a photograph during a satellite pass around the time of the killing, they didn't find anything.

OnStar to Stop Stolen Vehicles Automatically   In a new perk to General Motors’s OnStar system, stolen vehicles will slowly roll to a stop, leaving the thief with nowhere to go. This hasn’t resulted in an arrest yet, but the technology is just going into new models now, so it’s only a matter of time.  One reporter who tried it notes how OnStar’s female voice calmly tells felons to pull over for “assistance.”   Little do they know that someone will arrive to assist them with their Miranda Rights.  OnStar is the most popular telematics service available in North America. As of May 2005, it had more than 4 million customers. But what is a telematics service?  How does OnStar know where you are, and how can your car let the OnStar Call Center know that you've been in an accident?   The GPS receiver enables satellites to be able to track the exact location of your vehicle if you have been involved with a crash or are simply looking for directions or in this case to track a stolen vehicle, OnStar technology comes to the rescue.