Algood to Upgrade Police Tracking Devices

Algood Police Department is in the process of upgrading the police officer tracking devices.

Police Chief Dale Armour said Verizon can provide the tracking devices with faster pings.

“Mr. Morrison and I are discussing some issues with that software. We can go in and pay a little additional money that would come out of the police department budget to upgrade that system for more pings, faster pings,” Armour said. “Right now it is like two-minute pings, we can do down to thirty seconds. I think it is something that will not only protect the police department, it will protect the citizens and the city itself.”

Armour said the tracking devices proved their worth when a seventeen-year-old was struck by an Algood Police car in July.

“Highway patrol came out and did the reconstruction. And at that time they could not determine how fast our officer was going,” Armour said. “Because we had this software on the cars, we were able to go in and show he was under the speed limit at the time of the impact. So it has been a very big asset to us.”

The tracking devices measure various elements including maintenance and speed of the police cars.