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FOCUS: INTEROPERABILITY & DATA SHARING 6) Hardware The goal is to get the right stuff, and then set it up right. This is one area the chief must concede to the subject matter experts within the agency. Hardware selection and setup must be driven from the frontline user as opposed to the IT manager or po- lice executive who thinks he / she knows how it is going to be used in the field. Law-enforcement computing solutions can be broken down into the following sub-categories: consumer grade, semi- ruggedized and ruggedized. There is a big difference in ruggedness, especially when the user is a cop. In many agencies, the po- lice vehicle and laptop is used 24/7. It is estimated that in one year of police patrol duty, the average laptop gets the equiva- lent of three to five years of normal con- sumer use. This is important when trying to decide what to buy and whether a lap- top or in-vehicle mounted computer is the way to go. Panasonic has taken the unique step to provide a formula showing Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) on their website (www. panasonic.com/business). This allows a chief or project manager to account for all costs when comparing more expensive ruggedized hardware versus non-rugge- dized hardware. 7) Land-Mobile Radio Project 25 Mobile Video and Land-Mobile Radio (LMR) Project 25 are probably two of the most discussed and critical IT projects in public safety. Re-banding of the radio spectrum in the U.S. is well underway and being hotly debated. The FCC has allo- cated 12 MHz of 700-MHz band spectrum for Public Safety mission-critical voice services and 10 MHz of 700-MHz band spectrum to be used to build a nationwide interoperable, wireless broadband net- work for public safety. The major national public safety orga- nizations, leading local, county, and state government organizations, and many major industry companies are united in their efforts to convince Congress to al- locate an additional 10 MHz of spectrum. This is known as the D Block and it is nec- essary to have the bandwidth to deliver robust and reliable wireless broadband services nationwide. Along with a chief keeping up on this 32 LAW and ORDER I July 2012 10 Things Chiefs Need To Know About IT national movement, understanding what APCO 25 compliance means should also be paramount in any chief's mind. Chiefs have to be current on exactly what rami- fications there are with the P25 standard. 8) Training, the Silent Project Killer Chiefs should allow their project team to set up their training plan without inter- ference. Yes, overtime costs associated to training are a concern of management, but in any large-scale project those costs should be predicted. Training is probably one of the most often overlooked and un- der-funded parts of any mobile computing project because of its sheer size. Scheduling logistics of a large agency is a daunting task. Bringing in outside trainers can be expensive and sometimes delivers the wrong message to the front- line staff. So a chief needs to let the project manager weigh the differences between outside professional trainers and in-house officers selected for a "Train the Trainers" program. Most often, training the frontline officers to deliver the material is best be- cause acceptance is far greater when it is peer to peer. Choose your trainers wisely. Usually informal leaders among the frontline staff are best. They need to have both the skills to provide the training, but as well they need "street cred" from the officers about to learn a new way of doing things. If you train too early, the first officers trained can forget the information by the time the new system is up and running. This either kills the project or means you have to re-train. 9) Scope Creep Kills! While not being seen to micromanage the project team, a chief must ensure a complete solution is actually achieved. In small agencies, the chief may actually end up being the project manager, while in the larger agencies, a chief can be com- pletely hands off. The most common rea- son for most police computing projects is to transition toward a paperless business process that is more efficient. If it's a mobile computing project with laptops in the vehicles, what is the ul- timate goal of the project? What is the scope of that project? If true mobile report entry is the goal, that means the officers rarely leave their assigned patrol area for report writing unless specifically required. This allows for higher visibility and quicker re- sponse times to priority calls-for-service. Is the scope of this project clearly defined? Or is it loose and vague? 10) Post-Implementation Review A chief must also ensure success is mea- sured. The best way to measure your success is through a structured Post-Im- plementation Review. This Review occurs typically three months after the close of a project. You should be able to describe the project's purpose, participants, process, and your project team involvement in the Review. This Review has two key purposes. First, to determine if the business ben- efits and objectives of the project were met. Second, to determine if appro- priate methodology, standards, and processes were followed, and what lessons can be learned to improve fu- ture project performance. The chief must be careful to ensure the manner in which the review is conducted does not turn off people and discourage future participation by frontline staff or employees who typically would not be involved in such a large project. It is usu- ally best to stick with the Comment-Sug- gestion-Recommendation format. This allows the issue to be identified, sugges- tions made, and then a recommendation for future projects documented. One of the most important things a chief can do is market the success of the project. Throughout the proj- ect, departmental communication should be frequent. After complet- ing the rollout, the successes should be highlighted within your agency. Command staff commendations for the project team go a long way in re- inforcing the agency's commitment to its people. Formal recognition for a job well done always boosts morale. Sergeant Brad Brewer is a 22-year member of the Vancouver Police Department. He sits on the Ford Police Advisory Board and regularly gives presentations at law enforcement conferences on mobile computing, wireless technology and police vehicle ergonomics. He can be reached at sgt1411@gmail.com. LaO Post your comments on this story by visiting www.lawandordermag.com