“dope” (that’s cop parlance)

January 11, 2012 1:44 PM

Check out some of the new improvements that defense contractor Raytheon is adding to LAPD police cars. [previously]
posted by quin (27 comments total)

So, let me get this straight:

* Geotagging (essentially the Man Overboard button that's been on GPS since forever)
* Foursquare / Google Latitude
* IP cameras (someday!!)

I'd love to see the Raytheon bill for this "service package integration."
posted by odinsdream at 1:52 PM on January 11 [2 favorites]

Jeez, the cops in my town are bad enough using their damned Toughbooks while driving. This will take their shitty driving to a whole new level. Swerving bastards.
posted by Burhanistan at 1:52 PM on January 11 [1 favorite]

Realistically, is LAPD really going to equip every car and officer? With what money? And if they do, which I doubt, it'll be a long time before other police agencies can afford to follow suit.

Police are always ages behind on technology because they are publicly funded. The current budget crunch for most states and cities is going to exacerbate that lag.
posted by bearwife at 1:54 PM on January 11 [1 favorite]

Where's the cowcatcher for pushing away unwanted Occupy protestors?
posted by mccarty.tim at 1:55 PM on January 11 [2 favorites]

Realistically, is LAPD really going to equip every car and officer? With what money?

Precincts spending their money on Foursquare and geotags beats spending it on para-military assualt gear. I approve. :)
posted by -harlequin- at 1:57 PM on January 11 [4 favorites]

I was expecting laser guided missiles with tear gas payloads.
posted by Talanvor at 1:58 PM on January 11 [3 favorites]

Also, I wonder if insurance companies will strongly encourage shops to install those police connected cameras he mentions in the video?
posted by mccarty.tim at 2:00 PM on January 11

I was thinking it'd be a weaponized drone car.
posted by tylerkaraszewski at 2:15 PM on January 11

> Realistically, is LAPD really going to equip every car and officer? With what money? And if they do, which I doubt, it'll be a long time before other police agencies can afford to follow suit.

Police departments all over the country are getting billions of federal dollars for Homeland Security efforts. They generally use it for riot gear and armored personal carriers so some ruggedized computer gear that civilians already have might be preferable.

Or what -harlequin- said.
posted by Burhanistan at 2:15 PM on January 11 [5 favorites]

Giving cops the tools to record and analyze information on the fly is always a good idea. This new technology has nothing to do with facilitating corruption or brutality and not every discussion of cop-related topics needs to reflexively include references to corruption and brutality.
posted by BigLankyBastard at 2:18 PM on January 11 [3 favorites]

Legal reasons. Voluntarily. How precious.
posted by Old'n'Busted at 2:18 PM on January 11 [1 favorite]

Metafilter: (that’s cop parlance)
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:21 PM on January 11

The Wired article says this purchase was made by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, not the LAPD.
posted by muddgirl at 2:22 PM on January 11 [1 favorite]

[Folks, if you could maybe not turn this into the same old "fuck tha police" thread and just either maybe talk about the links or keep moving? Maybe?]
posted by jessamyn at 2:56 PM on January 11

I was expecting miniature Pain Guns.
posted by exlotuseater at 2:59 PM on January 11

"Giving cops the tools to record and analyze information on the fly is always a good idea."

Well, I don't know about always, but I'd have to agree with this in general. The more recorded, objective data there is about what the cops are doing and where, is definitely a good thing. I am astonished at what cops do in front of their dashcams. This is a good thing.

That being said, I am also surprised at how far behind the curve most of our "high tech" agencies are these days. As odinsdream pointed out, this is really not new technology at all. Much of what is being sold to military/law enforcement/security is really just plain vanilla Hello Kitty tech wrapped up in a cool looking brushed aluminum case with black rubber corners, and rebranded "SecureFire9000" - and marked up about 900%.
posted by Xoebe at 3:00 PM on January 11 [2 favorites]

Dead or alive, you're coming with me.
posted by crunchland at 3:05 PM on January 11 [1 favorite]

Metafilter: The same old "fuck the police" thread.
posted by Outlawyr at 3:12 PM on January 11

Meanwhile, the LAPD remains one of the most undermanned police forces among major cities. All sources Wikipedia.

NYPD
8.2 million people in jurisdiction
468 square miles
36,000 officers
Police to citizen ratio: 1:227
Budget = 3.9 billion

LAPD
3.8 million people in jurisdiction
498 square miles
10,000 officers
Police to citizen ratio: 1:380
Budget: 1.4 billion
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 4:08 PM on January 11

Yeah, other than tapping into the CCTV systems ("someday"), I don't quite see what's so novel about this. Apart from the fact that thanks to Raytheon, now LASD deputies can vie for Mayorship of Winchells Culver City.
posted by gingerest at 4:12 PM on January 11 [1 favorite]

LASD (Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department):
2.8 million in jurisdiction
4,752 square miles
9,000 deputies plus 700 reserve deputies
Police to citizen ratio: 1:288
posted by muddgirl at 4:16 PM on January 11

Foursquare?

"Do you know why we pulled you over? No, you were driving within the speed limit. We pulled you over because my Foursquare says you're the Mayor of Crackhouse."
posted by Hoopo at 4:33 PM on January 11 [10 favorites]

> Meanwhile, the LAPD remains one of the most undermanned police forces among major cities.

There are a ton of smaller municipal police departments within the greater LA area that shrink that ratio considerably.
posted by Burhanistan at 4:41 PM on January 11

This video and article is about the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, not the Los Angeles Police Department. Different entities entirely.
posted by allseeingabstract at 4:59 PM on January 11 [1 favorite]

There are a ton of smaller municipal police departments within the greater LA area that shrink that ratio considerably.

Yes and no. Yes, for example, there is a (comedy aside) Beverly Hills Police Department handling a city that is almost completely surrounded by the city of Los Angeles. But those cops don't generally leave the city of Beverly Hills to, say, help walk a beat in Hollywood. Anecdotally, there's a reason the Rodney King riots didn't generally spread into Beverly Hills, and it wasn't because it was, like, really far away.

Similarly, the Sheriff's department has its own jurisdiction -- unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County, and areas for which it's been contracted. They also aren't walking beats in Hollywood.

At the same time, similarly, in New York there are the Port Authority police and until 1995, the NYC Transit Police were a separate agency, which, in your argument, shrink the ratio, too.

So, you still end up with a huge city that is relatively under-policed, which is counter to most people's expectations.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 5:22 PM on January 11 [1 favorite]

esides providing an immediate portal to all the databases and legal resources cops need in the field, the rugged notebook provides real-time mapping of all patrol cars within a five mile radius, and links directly to a fingerprint scanner, which officers can use for warrant checks.

Real time mapping of every police car? What could possibly go wrong with that?

I mean it would be interesting if it could get hacked, but a more plausible problem might be a crooked cop teaming up with criminals to rob banks and evade the police, or something.
posted by delmoi at 9:57 PM on January 11

If you're willing to assume a crooked cop, they probably have a lot more information available to them than a computer display showing units within a five-mile radius. After all, they could just ask their colleagues "hey, where you getting lunch today?" at the morning standup. Doesn't seem like a huge risk to me.

But I'm just surprised / impressed that the thing doesn't go around spraying tear gas and dousing everyone in a fifty foot radius with millimeter-wave radar. So that's something.

More seriously, I would have expected automatic license plate readers, especially because insurance companies frequently pick up the tab for their installation (ostensibly to aid in stolen-vehicle recovery, but probably more to eliminate uninsured drivers).
posted by Kadin2048 at 6:35 AM on January 12