PORT ANGELES — Clallam County will receive a $525,904 grant from the state Military Department to pay for wireless laptop mobile data terminals in law enforcement patrol cars.
County commissioners accepted the federally-funded Stonegarden grant Tuesday.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency supplies the grants to help law enforcement officers deter, prevent or respond to a catastrophic event or terrorist attack.
Most of the money will be spent on mobile data terminals for Clallam County sheriff’s deputies and Port Angeles and Sequim police.
The technology will allow officers and deputies to file police reports, send and receive images and run background checks from the field.
It will improve communications with the dispatch center and eliminate “dead zones” in remote parts of the county where radio service is spotty at best.
“It make things more efficient,” Clallam County Sheriff Bill Benedict said.
$5,000 machines
The $5,000 mobile data terminals will take pressure off PenCom dispatchers, who handled 32,019 9-1-1 calls and 37,000 law enforcement calls last year alone.
The device comes with a built-in global positioning system to help dispatchers monitor and direct police activity.
The Stonegarden grant will pay for about 80 units, which are already in use in more than half of the law enforcement jurisdictions in the state.
“I’ve seen them demonstrated,” Benedict said.
“It is not new or untested technology.”
Another $125,000 of the grant money will pay for overtime and holiday police coverage and radios for tribal police.
The Sheriff’s Office will work with PenCom to standardize mobile data terminals.
Centered at the Port Angeles Police Department, PenCom is funded by the law enforcement, fire and emergency service agencies that use it.
The 16 agencies make up an advisory board that helps guide PenCom operation.
The agencies are the Port Angeles fire and police departments; the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office; Sequim police and Fire Districts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6; Lower Elwha Tribal Police; Forks police; LaPush police; Jamestown Fish and Game; Forks Ambulance; Olympic Ambulance; and Olympic National Park.
Several years from now, law enforcement officials will have to replace the pricey mobile data terminals. Benedict said the device has a lifespan of about five years.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
