SAN FRANCISCO -- Vivato™, a wireless systems infrastructure company, today announced that the Salida, Colo. Police Department has deployed a single Vivato 2.4 GHz Outdoor Wi-Fi Switch that covers the entire downtown area of this popular tourist destination with wireless service, providing network access to laptop computers deployed in its full fleet of patrol cars.
Vivato’s flat-panel 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi Switch contains multiple integrated antennas and management software that extends the range and coverage of wireless connectivity up to four kilometers outdoors, with direct line of sight.
In Salida, a single Vivato antenna, mounted atop a city-owned building on the summit of a mountain with a clear view of the city, provides police officers with wireless network access as they patrol the six square mile town. Every patrol car in the Salida fleet is equipped with external antennas and wireless-enabled computers, allowing the officers to access network information, including criminal photographs, to enter data and to submit reports, while maintaining their street presence.
“National statistics have shown that crime rates are directly tied to the visibility of law enforcement,” said Mark Mathies, Salida’s chief of police. “Vivato’s extended Wi-Fi coverage provided a cost-effective way for us to increase our officers’ visibility in the field by liberating them from handling paperwork at the station.”
Mathies, faced with a reduction in force and the challenge of lowering crime rates with fewer officers, turned to Anyware Network Solutions, a Colorado-based wireless system integrator, to assist in evaluating wireless solutions for field officers. Before installing the wireless system, Salida officers spent up to 60 percent of each shift typing data into a computer-based offense report system, dictating crime reports and handling other administrative duties from police headquarters. Now with their wireless-enabled laptops, officers use the department’s server-based software to write and file reports or handle other administrative duties in their patrol cars.
Mathies’ goal in deploying the wireless system was to increase officer presence in the community from the existing 40 percent per shift to 80 percent.
“Vivato’s extreme range and affordability was an ideal fit for Salida,” said Charlie Franco, vice president of sales, Anyware Network Solutions. “We covered the entire downtown area by strategically locating one panel on Tenderfoot Mountain, which reduced the equipment, installation and management costs that can add significant expense to large outdoor installations.”
Vivato Inc.