Mobile Data Access Terminals and Their Implications for Policing

Abstract

Mobile data terminals, a relatively recent computer development, allow police officers immediate access to crime‐relevant data bases from within their patrol vehicles. This article summarizes the results of an investigation of the first system of this type in Canada. Through a multimethodological approach involving interviews, questionnaires, observations of the system in use, and analysis of archival data, the evaluation focused on attitudes of officers toward the system, their subjective evaluation of the system's advantages and limitations, the comparative role a system of this type plays vis‐à‐vis their other primary mode of communication, i.e., radio, and on the implications of such a system for policing. Officers were generally enthused about the system and reported increased job satisfaction as a function of its introduction, but exhibited some collective ambivalence regarding implications of the system, particularly in terms of police safety and its impact on police‐community interaction.