Public safety aims for high-tech, efficiency

ALBANY, Ga.: Those who follow government will tell you that one of the fastest ways to save money and trim budgets in government is to increase efficiency.

The theory is simple.

If time is money, then wasted time is wasted money.

When the workforce a company has in place maximizes their time, most are able to get more done which often translates into increased effectiveness.

If there was a theme for the public safety projects to be funded by the sixth installment of the special one-percent sales tax, it would likely be “improving efficiency through technology.”

“That’s the ultimate goal,” Albany Police Department Deputy Chief Mark Scott says. “When the department runs more efficiently, the taxpayer wins and the department wins.”

That philosophy is largely what’s driving the public safety SPLOST requests for both the city and the county law enforcement agencies.

For the APD, the department is asking the voters for enough mobile data terminals to outfit the remainder of their fleet, new audio and video equipment for increased accountability, and for new software and software upgrades to existing systems that will give the officer’s access a wide-range of information — enough to make their patrol cars offices on wheels.

“All of these things are designed to make us more efficient, all the way through the process,” Scott says.

The MDT’s, complete with updated software, will allow officers to have access to the same system 911 does, so that they’ll no longer have to clock up the radio channels waiting on tag or license information which should speed up both the time it takes to complete a traffic stop and the time it takes for the municipal clerk to process a citation.

Additional software will make accessing warrants and other information much easier and will, for the first time, make hand-written reports completely obsolete.

Scott says that the software will speed up the availability of accident and incident reports and also make them less susceptible to mistakes.

Additionally, the department is requesting funding for a digital firearms training apparatus that will allow officers to train on various real-world scenarios without being actually being shot. Scott believes its as close to real-world preparation without actually throwing the officers into the real thing.

Funding has also been requested to replace the APD’s aging mobile command center and provide additional security upgrades for the Albany-Dougherty Drug Unit.

On the county side, Dougherty County Police Chief Don Cheek has requested $1 million for additional and replacement vehicle purchases over the next five years; MDT’s with a mobile citation and printer system that will allow officers to digitally write tickets and send them into the clerk’s office while giving the ability to print a copy from their cars.

Additional public safety funds for both the city and county have been requested to completely replace the fire department’s personal breathing apparatuses which Chief James Carswell will be out of code and beyond their life expectancy within the next three years.

The department is also requesting funding for two new pumper trucks and a ladder truck to retire their counterparts in the fleet.

Dougherty County EMS stations will get $1.7 million to replace two ambulances each year for the next six years; replace the roof on both the Southeast Station and the West Station; install energy-efficient equipment and replace furniture.

The Dougherty County Jail has requested $2.2 million for projects ranging from parking extensions and security improvements to roof replacement and security camera upgrades and expansions.

The judicial building will also get $960,000 for items ranging for a new emergency generator to a new chiller for air conditioning systems.

Citizens will vote on the SPLOST VI referendum — which will generate $98 million for a wide range of projects over the next six years — on Nov. 2.

If passed, the 1 percent tax will replace SPLOST V, which is set to phase out next March.