Advanced technology inside the Scranton Police Department’s new patrol cars helped officers investigate a deadly shooting last April in North Scranton.
“One of the suspects on Providence Road … they got them on video, running in front of the car,” said Patrolman Robert Hegedus, who manages the department’s fleet.
For the past year, Scranton Police have used the Whelen Cloud Platform and other advanced technology in the department's patrol vehicles, enabling their new Ford and Dodge SUVs to talk to each other. The software, which uses Artificial Intelligence, also links up with officers' body cameras.
It sounds like something from a Sci-Fi movie or a television crime drama, but the Scranton Police Department is at the forefront of the new police technology.
"I don't think you can get a better police car right now than what the city of Scranton is providing for us,” Hegedus said.
Scranton Police Chief Thomas Carroll said the technology helps with the department’s main mission, public safety. It keeps officers and the community safe.
"A lot of diligence was put into what it was that we were going to acquire and how we're going to use it,” he said.
The police department has added 46 new police vehicles since 2023. Former U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright secured a $3.5 million grant to upgrade police safety equipment, including new body cameras for officers.
Technology for safety
The system beeps when the patrol cars are about 30 seconds away from each other. When they show up to incidents, their blue and red vehicle lights sync up.
Hegedus said that's less chaotic.
“It's a dramatic safety feature, because we've lost vehicles in the past where people have driven into the back of the cars and destroyed the vehicle ... it ended up costing us an officer who's been out injured for little over two years now because of that; he was in the vehicle at the time it was struck," Hegedus said.
Then there are the recording features.
"It can take any video that we capture in the field from these cameras, and it'll upload it to the cloud,” Hegedus said. Officers or detectives also working on the crime can access that information in real time for in-the-moment investigations, he added.
Passing license plates are recorded
Cameras are mounted on the windshield of the SUVs. Officers either hit record or turn on their sirens to record action.
"Within three seconds, it'll start recording, and it activates your body cam," he said. "We have a lot of features in this car that activate the body cam. If you open your gun lock, it activates the body cam ... if you unholster your weapon, it activates the body cam and all the ones around you.”
Hegedus pointed to the North Scranton shooting. Robert Dawson, 32, was shot and killed after a fight that began on a city park’s basketball court.
That footage is used for investigations and in court.
“I think the best part about it is the transparency," said Carroll. "We have very professional police officers, and we don't mind showing that."
There’s also responder-to-vehicle technology. The system sends alerts to GPS systems on cell phones and in cars to alert drivers to the location of emergency vehicles.
The cars also record every license plate that officers pass by while on patrol.
The new cars even help canine officers.
“If the car gets too hot, it will activate alarms within the car, so the lights and sirens will flash, the windows will drop, an auxiliary fan will drop down, turn on, and then it'll send a signal to the officer's cell phone," Hegedus said.
'A valuable resource on the road'
The new vehicles are like police departments on wheels with WiFi and a mounted laptop.
Hegedus said when he started as a police officer 17 years ago, they drove Ford Crown Victorias with radio and siren boxes on the floor.
"We used to have to call everything in over the radio. Now, you can run people's registration plates here. You can run people's licenses here, you can go on to the internet site that's available to law enforcement, pull up their driving history and stuff like that," he said, sitting in the front seat of one of the Fords. "You can print the citations right here. We do them all in the vehicles. No more of the handwritten ones.”
The department researches trends both locally and nationally and educates their officers on the latest technology and practices.
Because of that, Carroll said the Scranton Police Department is a leader in the industry. He’s proud of his officers.
“We are putting a valuable resource on the road to fight crime, and we have proven that over and over again, especially this past year,” he said.
