Out of curiosity, how long was it from initial concept (aka a hallucination by some nay-sayers <g>) until you began to work on this project? And how long was it from when you first started on the project and its initial deployment? Did your background in law enforcement (if I recall correctly you do have a law enforcement background) help you get through the red tape? Was VFP part of the solution design from the outset, or did you try to use something else and found VFP was more suitable? Or, did you select VFP largely because of familiarity (I do that, VFP works great for my needs, why move to anything else for internal processes)? Has anyone hit you with the "VFP ain't secure" line yet?
I was hired in as the Systems Manager for the RTCC. I just happened to see the initial LPR that was being looked at and we (my brother Major Jim Harvey, Lt Shackleford and I) decided bying four lpr cameras to position via base magnets didn't seem like a viable solution. So, we designed our own. We got with a local vendor and told them we only wanted 1 camera per car ($12,000.00 each) and wanted it mounted on a pan/tilt system which could be controlled from inside the car. (A good cop never gets cold, wet or hungry). We went through a few iterations until we got one that could withstand a 140 mph headwind (Shack says it will) and we've made changes to the internal screen also. We now have what we believe is the best system on the market. As an employee of the MPD, I don't get anything other than my regular salary and the knowledge that I have made a difference. I will probably be working with other jurisdictions to augment their versions of the Prowler system. The local sheriff's office, and two other agencies are acquiring our LPR and we are giving them the software. I am giving a presentation of our LPR solution to the International Association of Chiefs of Police in late May, in Atlanta. We are also entering the "Excellence in Law Enforcement" competition, which we won last year for the RTCC. I have also been pushing an idea to the director that would allow us to mail traffic tickets to everyone we encounter who is driving on expired tags. We will have better case documentation than an officer's eye witness account, as we capture an overview shot of the car, a picture of the tag, the lat/lon of the event, the date/time, and the MVR data that says the tag is expired. I can see the city/county/state getting a lot more of the money that is due than they have been. I pay for my car's tags, everyone else should too. I believe we will be able to do about 500 per day and that is a very conservative number. John Harvey _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/025601caba26$5f4a5130$1ddef3...@[email protected] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
