Ohio County using GPS for officer, public safety

OHIO COUNTY, W.Va.--

From his desk Ohio County Chief Deputy Drage Flick can track where his officers are down to their cruiser's exact location.

Software called Network Fleet is tied into units that were installed in 23 of the county's cruisers this month.

Flick the system can help with officer safety.  If a deputy cannot call in his or her location, the program can give the deputy’s location.  Flick says it could also make response to some 911 calls more efficient.

"Dispatch will be able to view the map and when someone calls in for assistance via 911, they'll be able to look and see who the closest officer is to that call," he said.

Flick says it helps him to see what kind of coverage different areas of the county are getting.  The system marks a vehicles’ location every two minutes.   Flick would like locations tracked more frequently, and says that’s something he’s spoken with the company about.

Because the system tracks vehicle movement, Flick says it should help with his original goal of cutting fuel costs.

"We hope it will reduce our fuel consumption by slowing the officers down when they don't need to exceed the speed limit. Also we can monitor the idle time when they're on calls. We just ask them to shut their vehicles off and not let them sit and run and we're anticipating at least a 10 percent reduction in fuel," he said.

Currently, only road cruisers have the GPS units installed.  Flick says he’s looking into getting the GPS units installed in all department vehicles in the future.