Benton County deputies to get tablet computers

BENTONVILLE -- Benton County deputies hope to be able to tote tablet computers to their calls and upload reports from the field before the end of the year.

A final date hasn't been set to install the new equipment in the sheriff's office vehicles. The timing largely depends on availability, said Eddie Mahar, the office's information technology director.

The Quorum Court last week approved spending $243,000 to buy 60 tablet computers and equipment to mount them in the vehicles. The tablets are needed because dead or damaged screens are plaguing the computers deputies use on patrol now, said Maj. Shawn Holloway, director of operations.

Deputies have to radio in each call because their laptop computers are useless, Holloway said.

A deputy is in and out of his car all day, in all weather, and the machines didn't stand up to the constant use, he said.

The new tablets will have 11-inch screens, and deputies will be able to use the touch screens while wearing gloves or using a stylus, he said. The sheriff's office hasn't settled on the exact setup of tablets and docking stations for them, because it is still evaluating which brand will give the office the best "bang for the buck," Mahar said.

All the tablets will be built to military specifications to better resist heat and cold extremes, Mahar said.

The sheriff's office asked the county's Finance Committee for 30 tablet computers this year and 30 in 2016, but a request to buy all 60 computers this year was forwarded to the Quorum Court.

An itemized list provided to the Finance Committee shows that only eight of the sheriff's office's 32 computers are in working condition. The document says 16 deputies have no laptop assigned to them.

There are another 23 Panasonic Toughbooks in use that need to be replaced because they run on Windows XP, an old version of Microsoft's operating system. The company quit issuing updates for Windows XP in the spring.

Ten laptops were purchased for the sheriff's office in 2012, but the other equipment is older, said Brenda Guenther, county comptroller.

"We didn't know it was that bad," said Justice of the Peace Tom Allen, head of the Finance Committee.

Radio traffic in the county is divided, Holloway said. A supervisor in the eastern part of the county might not hear deputies in the western half. The new equipment will allow them to "chat" online with one another, and supervisors will be able to track each deputy with GPS technology.

The tablets also will double as cameras, and they will allow deputies to do reports on the spot when they go on calls, Holloway said.

Once the tablets are ordered, they should arrive a month later, Mahar said. The mounting systems used to place them in the cars might take longer, but that will give his department time to load software and troubleshoot the new equipment.

Some deputies tested tablets in the spring and they seemed receptive to the idea, Mahar said.

Once the new equipment is set up, more information will be at the deputies' fingertips, Mahar said.

"It'll allow them to put the dots together and form better decisions," he said.

Metro on 08/30/2015

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