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UNH PD receives voice activated computers in cruisers
By Lee Ann O'Hara
Imagine walking into your room with your hands full and saying: "Lights On"-only to watch the lights flick themselves on. Technology like this is not far from being part of everyday life. Even now "talking houses," which are houses wired to be voice-activated for the basic functions, are appearing in neighborhoods all across America. The one place that these voice-activated features are really turning heads, though, is in law enforcement vehicles, including UNH police vehicles.
Captain Paul Dean of the University Police Department feels that Project54, which has been equipped in all the University police vehicles, is a "godsend," adding to the public and the officers' safety and giving the officers faster access to information. "This is one of the best things to help police," Dean said.
"This system reduces accidents," added Captain Dean. "If the streets get flooded we need to keep our eyes on the road. We also have the ability to access information from the car now instead of having to go to the station. And since we don't have to come back to the station, we're out in the lots. This in turn, acts as a deterrent of crime. We don't have any actual numbers, but you can tell that crime is down."
This project was originally created in the mid-nineties by Texas A & M, but was quickly abandoned due to the lack of available technology, according to Brett Vinciguerra, program director and lead research engineer of Project54. The price tag wasn't too much to brag about either. As projected, it would have run roughly $70,000 per police cruiser.
New Hampshire's Senator Judd Gregg, with the help of the New Hampshire State Police (NHSP), posed the idea to have voice-activated vehicles to UNH engineering professors in 1997. The idea was then put on hold until proper funding was received from the Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2000.
A devoted staff comprised of UNH faculty and students, along with the New Hampshire Department of Safety and other allotted directors, worked as much as 40 hours any given week to get the project up and running.
By Lee Ann O'Hara
Imagine walking into your room with your hands full and saying: "Lights On"-only to watch the lights flick themselves on. Technology like this is not far from being part of everyday life. Even now "talking houses," which are houses wired to be voice-activated for the basic functions, are appearing in neighborhoods all across America. The one place that these voice-activated features are really turning heads, though, is in law enforcement vehicles, including UNH police vehicles.
Captain Paul Dean of the University Police Department feels that Project54, which has been equipped in all the University police vehicles, is a "godsend," adding to the public and the officers' safety and giving the officers faster access to information. "This is one of the best things to help police," Dean said.
"This system reduces accidents," added Captain Dean. "If the streets get flooded we need to keep our eyes on the road. We also have the ability to access information from the car now instead of having to go to the station. And since we don't have to come back to the station, we're out in the lots. This in turn, acts as a deterrent of crime. We don't have any actual numbers, but you can tell that crime is down."
This project was originally created in the mid-nineties by Texas A & M, but was quickly abandoned due to the lack of available technology, according to Brett Vinciguerra, program director and lead research engineer of Project54. The price tag wasn't too much to brag about either. As projected, it would have run roughly $70,000 per police cruiser.
New Hampshire's Senator Judd Gregg, with the help of the New Hampshire State Police (NHSP), posed the idea to have voice-activated vehicles to UNH engineering professors in 1997. The idea was then put on hold until proper funding was received from the Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2000.
A devoted staff comprised of UNH faculty and students, along with the New Hampshire Department of Safety and other allotted directors, worked as much as 40 hours any given week to get the project up and running.
