BIO-key International, Inc., a developer of finger-based biometric identification and wireless public safety solutions, announced the award of a contract from the Erlanger (Kentucky) Police Department ("the Department") for additional MobileCop licenses.  The contract will enable ten new public safety agencies in Kenton County (Kentucky) to join the county-wide mobile data system managed by the Departments 911 Communications Center.  With MobileCop, police officers and other first responders in the field have access to critical federal, state and local information directly from laptops in their vehicles.  MobileCop also provides first responders the ability to send incident updates and alerts to commanders and other mobile units directly from their laptop.  The data system will serve a total of eighteen agencies in twelve Kenton County communities -- and more than 160 mobile users -- upon activation on May 1st, 2008. Additional agencies are expected to join in the future.

MobileCop is linked to a computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system located within the Departments 911 Communications Center.  Detailed information from a 911 call for service from any participating community can be transmitted directly to the nearest available patrol unit in that community.  Now officers and firefighters are better prepared to address an emergency because they get critical information on the incident and the people involved before they even get to the scene.

For incidents requiring mutual aid or crossing jurisdictions, such as pursuit of a suspect, available police units from nearby communities can be dispatched through MobileCop, ensuring better backup and improving officer safety.  MobileCop addresses one of the major shortfalls reported by the 911 Commission, interagency communication.  Now all units involved in an incident can communicate with each other, regardless of which department they are from.

"With MobileCop we now have an interoperable data communications system that will help us get the right resources to respond to any incident virtually anywhere in the County," explained Steve Castor, Erlanger 911 Communications Center manager.

The participating communities expect to be able to maintain and improve the system through 911 landline user fees and without additional local tax dollars.  "With multiple jurisdictions sharing central site hardware and software, as opposed to each one having its own separate system, were able to save significant dollars in operational costs," added Castor.

"Increasingly, law enforcement agencies across the country are doing what Kenton County has done in building a multi-jurisdictional system," said Ken Souza Senior Vice President and General Manager of BIO-keys Law Enforcement Division.  "Sharing resources makes economic sense and sharing information makes officers on the street more effective."

For more information, please send your e-mails to swm@infothe.com.

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