APD looks to keep cops' eyes on road

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Next month, the Austin police department will begin testing new technology they hope will limit the number of distractions their officers face inside their patrol cars.

The inside of a patrol car is a distracting place.

"Between radios and the MDC system- the computer- we recognize that the interior of a police car in and of itself is a distracting environment," said APD Assistant Chief Sean Mannix. "What we do is we upgrade the technology to make it safer for the officers and the citizens."

New technology, called the iForce integrated patrol vehicle system, is smaller than the laptop officers currently use in their vehicles. They keyboard is wireless and removable, making it less distracting.

They system would essentially make a lot of the functions in a patrol car hands free and an officer's voice command could activate the radio, GPS, even lights and sirens.

"The voice activated technology is a great idea to help reduce some of the risk of distraction, but it doesn't eliminate it all together," said Austin attorney Brooks Schuelke, who has represented many victims in distracted driving cases.

He said officers typically have more access to distractions than the average driver.

"In the old days we used to laugh about the person driving by putting on make up driving by being the biggest distraction," said Schuelke.  "Now its not only that, it's cell phones, texting, computers."

Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo recently suspended an officer for causing a crash Downtown because he was distracted by his laptop computer. Earlier this year, an Austin man injured when a distracted police officer hit him on a motorcycle was awarded a $250,000 settlement from the city of Austin.

Since January 2009, nine APD officers have been suspended for causing crashes because they were distracted by something inside their vehicles.

If approved, the new technology would cost $10,000 to install in each patrol car.