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LA Cops get Wi-Fi Drive By Access

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the how-long-before-the-warchalking-starts dept.

An anonymous reader writes " A PC World.com article: "the Los Angeles Police Department plans to install 27 wireless local area networks (WLANs) at police stations throughout the city in the next three months, according to Roger Ham, deputy chief for communications at the LAPD. Ham says he plans to equip police cars with handheld computers from Symbol Technologies. The handheld devices will be equipped with 802.11b WLAN cards that communicate in the unlicensed 2.4-GHz band with access points installed in police stations at a raw data rate of 11 megabits per second-far faster than the 19.2-kilobits-per-second throughput in the department's 800-MHz wide area network (WAN) installed by Motorola two years ago and covering the city. Will Strauss, an analyst at Forward Concepts, called Ham's plan "a cheap way to get bandwidth" that would allow LAPD units to periodically pick up high-bandwidth data as they pass by police stations equipped with WLAN systems."

7 of 168 comments (clear)

  1. Poor choice of words by positive · · Score: 5, Funny

    Gah, don't put LA and Drive By in the same sentence!

  2. DUCK! by AlaskanUnderachiever · · Score: 5, Funny

    I can't be the only one that instantly associated LAPD and Driveby am I?

    --
    Find out about my new childrens book: SS Death Camp Criminal Batallion Go To Monte Carlo For The Massacre
  3. Must be fun... by ChaoticChaos · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...to drive a police car and surf for pr0n at the same time. ;-)

  4. Groan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    So does this make them Ham Radios?

  5. increased efficiency by whovian · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Hey Stan, it says here there is a new donut shop up ahead on Wilshire. We can even order over online! You game? I'll buy."

    --
    To-do List: Receive telemarketing call during a tornado warning. Check.
  6. This isn't efficient! by I'm+just+joshin · · Score: 5, Funny

    They need to put them in donut shops to reach the greatest number of cops.

  7. IM for the pigs by The+Ape+With+No+Name · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yo. @ Randy's catching a cruller. Where ya?
    Wilshire. Gettin ready to go roll some whores for the night's take
    Kewl. Be there in a minute.
    sweet. well save sum pimp ass to kick
    dam
    ?
    just got pwdrd shug on my shirt
    LOL better clean it up b4 sarge sees ya.

    --
    Comparing it to Windows will be a moot point, since El Dorado is going to have a 40% larger code base than XP.