The New York City Police Department today issued over 130 handheld devices that permit officers in the field to retrieve warrants, wanted photos, gun licenses, orders of protection, car registrations, and thousands of other records.

The devices, distributed to patrol officers and detectives in the five boroughs, are being used in a six month field test to measure their ruggedness and reliability on the street.

"We want to put as much high technology as possible literally into the hands of our officers," said Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly. "This is an important step in the right direction."

A total of 200 devices manufactured by three different companies will be distributed in coming weeks. The two versions deployed today were custom made by Panasonic for the NYPD. They each cost approximately
$1,000, and $2,000 for a more ruggedly constructed model. The others are being introduced for field testing later this month; they are made by GTech and Trimble.

Police officers and detectives will be able to receive important information, in seconds, from their handheld devices, rather than spend time waiting for assistance over the telephone or using precious airtime over police radios. They will be able to check vehicle license plates and driver license records; run warrant checks through NYSPIN and NCIC, as well as local databases; check NYPD pistol license databases; as well
as the department's extensive domestic violence database. In addition officers will be able to retrieve photographs of bank robbers that appear on department wanted posters along with other relevant images.

Laptop computers with similar capabilities have already been installed in approximately 3,000 radio cars.

The handheld devices are available to be photographed at DCPI.