Northern Kentucky police departments are gearing up for a state mandate that will require officers to record the latitude and longitude of every traffic wreck or crime, starting Tuesday.

        Kentucky state government has spent $900,000 to buy 5,500 Global Positioning System (GPS) locators. The handheld GPS locators use 12 satellites orbiting earth to pinpoint someone's location within feet.

        Police agencies in Boone, Campbell, Grant and Kenton counties have received 475 locators, said Pat Melton of the transportation cabinet. Kenton County Police received 36 locators, one for every officer.
       

Increasing precision
               “We don't mind the requirement, since the state gave us the GPS locators and training on how to use them,” said Kenton Police Capt. Ed Butler. “This is a mandate they gave us the funding to do.”

        Most Ohio police agencies, including Cincinnati Police, do not record latitude and longitude of traffic wrecks and crimes.

        Indiana State Police are rewriting their state's crash reports to include a space to record latitude and longitude, but officers will not be required to record that information. A central computer system, used to track traffic wrecks in Indiana, will convert the mile marker or address where a wreck occurred to a longitude and latitude reading.

        GPS locators will allow police officers in Kentucky to provide more precise traffic crash location infor mation and improve the state's crash data reporting capabilities, Mr. Melton said.

        A secondary benefit, said Capt. Butler, is the devices can provide accurate locations to other emergency services responding to a scene. Police, for example, could use the devices to provide the location of a landing spot to University Hospital's Air Care helicopter responding to a wreck.

        Mr. Melton said the accuracy of the locators has increased to 3 feet or less.
       

Accuracy a concern
               Capt. Houston Coates of the Cincinnati Police traffic division disputes this claim. He said Kentucky's locators, which cost $130 each, do not record a location accurately enough to work effectively for Cincinnati police.

        “We could be standing at the site of an accident on the interstate; the GPS locators could record the wreck on a side street below the interstate,“ said Capt. Coates.

        Capt. Coates said more accurate GPS units cost $2,000 each, an expense most Ohio police departments cannot afford.

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