NCJ Number
147532
Date Published
1990
Length
10 pages
Annotation
The history of dispatching and computerized dispatching in the Houston (TX) Police Department is reviewed.
Abstract
Police dispatching grew in importance with the advent of in-car two-way radios and 911 systems. In the mid-1980's, the Houston Police Department bought a state-of-the-art computer system to streamline its dispatching operations-- but concurrently began a shift toward a neighborhood- oriented style of policing. The department wanted to address crime as neighborhood problems, and use beat patrols to work closely with the community. The computer system, however, served one purpose: handling individual calls quickly. Whether the computer's thinking could be adapted to the department's style was questionable. The computer might, for instance, dispatch 10 different units to 10 burglaries on the same block. Ultimately, performing neighborhood-oriented functions required deemphasizing the computerized dispatching system--that is, subordinating the system to the people running it, rather than the other way around.