Deputies use iPads to help quicken the process for filing a police report, assist in other daily duties.
There are more uses for iPads besides checking email, catching up on news and playing “Kim Kardashian: Hollywood!”
Local police also use the Apple devices to fight crime.
The Athens County Sheriff’s Office replaced its computers in police cruisers with 25
iPads in 2013.The computer systems cost $3,000; iPads were about $700 to $800, said Athens County Interim Sheriff Rodney Smith.
Because iPads are easy to move around, it makes deputies’ jobs much easier.
“It has everything they need,” Smith said.
Police use the iPads to:
- Record videos of crime scenes
- Navigate the area with Apple Maps
- Record interviews
- File police reports at the scene of the crime
Captain Bryan Cooper said he’s “an iPad guy” and started researching the operating systems back in 2013.
“We can not only report our calls, but we can use them in cruisers, we can video the crime scene and now we can photograph too,” Cooper said. “My guys can do the reports officially on the road, they don’t have to come back to the office to do the reports.”
In the past, deputies would take the report back to the office at the end of each day, but now they can file reports in between responding to calls, Cooper said.
“We can get our reports done instantaneously and the deputies don’t get backed up with a ton of reports,” Cooper said. “The entire community gets a better service.”
Deputy Jim Childs said he sets up his iPad in his cruiser, parks in areas where a high volume of traffic accidents occur, and starts recording.
“I set it up there... until I see a violation and then, boom — I have that violation on video,” Childs said.
He finds himself utilizing the iPad for accessing the electronic payroll, psychiatric submissions to the hospital, previous call histories and communicating with other deputies.
“Now there’s a Notepad app … other shifts can get on the Notepad and see where there have been problem areas,” Childs said.
Childs spends most of his time in local school systems teaching the D.A.R.E. program, but he finds uses for the iPad no matter what he’s working on, he said.
“I’m not a real big technology guru, but I’ve learned a lot about it over time,” he said.
@Fair3Julia
jf311013@ohio.edu
