New York Daily News – by THOMAS TRACY
The police cruiser of the future is here — and it’s being driven in Brooklyn.
An NYPD “super smart car” prototype that can leave the chatty Trans-Am from the 80s show “Knight Rider” tongue-tied is being tested on the streets of Brooklyn Heights and DUMBO, officials said Thursday.
The Ford Hybrid cruiser can scan license plates, link up to databases at police headquarters, has built-in radiation detectors and can digitally record everything it sees from its windshield, according to Deputy Inspector Brandon del Pozo of the NYPD’s Project Management Office.
“It’s inevitable that police cars will be bringing more and more technology to the street,” del Pozo told the Daily News. “This car features the best technology currently available. It’ll be able to take information from the street and send it back to the commanders in headquarters so they can make correct, on-the-spot decisions.”
One of the car’s key features is its infrared scanner that reads numbers at license plate level.
The scanner has a real-time link to the NYPD’s computers and databases, so it can alert cops if it spies upon a license plate that’s been reported stolen, has been used in a crime, or has outstanding tickets.
“It can scan hundreds of plates in minutes,” said Captain Max Tolentino, the commanding officer of the 84th Precinct in Brooklyn Heights. “It’s a great tool when looking for a stolen car.”
Tolentino said the NYPD smart car has been part of his fleet for the past six months.
It’s usually assigned to critical areas such as the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges, he said.
“It’s tiny, but there’s a lot of technology in it,” he said.
Del Pozo agreed that the car is small, but packed with crime-fighting potential.
“Police cars in general are getting smaller as the NYPD and the city are becoming more fuel conscious,” he said. “It’s cramped, but the technology is being valued.”
The car is one of the first projects to be rolled out of the department’s NYPD2020 long-term strategic plan crafted by the consulting firm McKinsey & Co.
McKinsey & Co. was paid nearly $1 million by the nonprofit Police Foundation to work with NYPD officials and figure out what the department will look like in the next decade.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly approved the testing of the prototype, but it will be up to incoming Commissioner Bill Bratton to decide if the program moves forward, officials said.
““It’s inevitable that police cars will be bringing more and more technology to the street,” del Pozo told the Daily News. “This car features the best technology currently available. It’ll be able to take information from the street and send it back to the commanders in headquarters so they can make correct, on-the-spot decisions.””
Oh yes, “inevitable”. Inevitable, my ass! Not if We the People can stop it.
By the way, since those cars are “SMART” cars, the police department itself just dug its own grave because if the government can hack into our “SMART” devices, they sure as hell can do the same with the cops. Also, don’t forget non-government hackers, too.
For example: Picture a spy going undercover and is being chased by a group of cops. The spy says to his superiors on the phone, “Yes, just disable the cars behind me.” BAM! He gets away scott-free! Hell, eventually the spy won’t even have to do that. He can just shoot a small EMP/Scrambler device onto the car in order to disable it. And trust me, the criminals definitely have their hands on these types of devices and since they don’t obey the law, the cops just screwed themselves.
That’s the trouble with recruiting children to be policemen. Their child-like intelligence only sees new digital gadgets as toys and are completely ignorant on what’s going on around them and how they can be used against them until it hits them in the face. Most of the time, they never have the brains to even understand what just hit them in the face.
This is exactly why I refuse to buy a car that has an electronic startup and this is exactly why the elite are so help bent on bringing these out and making everyone own one or nothing at all. I mean even if you watched the movie, “Fast and Furious 6”, you’d see my point about the fallacies of digital cars, as it proves it perfectly.
Anything digital can be CONTROLLED and SHUTDOWN.
Anything non-digital CANNOT be completely controlled and equals FREEDOM!
Hey NC, that’s why I listen to music from a turntable using 33 RPM vinyl records. There is no comparison between analog and digital recorded music.
lol 🙂
yep, no comparison Millard .
you’re right, Millard. The MP3’s are convenient, but I do miss the sound quality that I got from my old “stack of wax.”
Isn`t it kind of hard to find a car with standard ignition NC – ya know the point system that ya can use a paper match book to set the points 🙂 …………. Hey NC, do ya think that a beefed up stun gun might throw a short in that car if ya gave it a good shock?
I love my 68 dodge and my 73 beetle , both emp proofed and no modern BS to mess with me
My first car was a `73 VW Wagon. great car but lousey heater. 😉
Wish they brought those kinds of cars back. Now instead of tough, muscle cars, they have pansy, robot cars.
The steering, accelerator and the brakes are under computer control. That’s really cheaper?
Im so thrilled that humans will live in poverty because they can be taxed to pay for cars that will make on the spot decisions for them.I thought that was the self-imposed role of government.I guess If a car can do your job for you,why not?
Wow….high-tech and very expensive, and easily destroyed by a simple soda bottle filled with gasoline.
Simple and effective 🙂
Yep, I’m a believer that low-tech can defeat and outperform any high-tech device, if you know how to use it wisely.