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Police Test RFID-enabled Badges
When an officer is assigned a badge, an interrogator reads the tag (the read range is 2 to 3 inches), after which the staff inputs into the department's database any necessary data to be associated with that badge, such as the officer's name.
After the SCDPS began using SmartShield, it also installed a security system at their Charleston headquarters that locks all doors to the building unless proper identification is provided. Connelly says the department has incorporated SmartShield into that security system by fitting the doorways with a variety of RFID readers that can read ISO 14443-compliant RFID tags. An officer must present the badge to the reader. If it recognizes the tag's serial number, the officer is granted automatic entry to the building (that is, the door unlocks). If a badge is stolen or missing, the department can disable it by removing its access authorization in the department’s database.
According to Domurad, the system is intended for inventory control of new badges, and to track which badges are assigned to which officers, but it can also be used to complement an access control program already in use, or even as the sole access control source, if the end user so chooses. Domurad foresees a multitude of other applications in the future, including scenarios involving RFID readers on motorists' vehicles that would read a trooper's RFID badge during a traffic stop, authenticating the information on that badge.
Connelly expects to use it for other applications as well. "We can use a portable reader at special events—such as a concert or a ballgame—set up at the door, saving a lot of time in taking role [determining which officers had arrived]...and they would know immediately if an officer were missing." He adds that an emergency, such as a terrorist act, could require fast accounting of officers, and portable RFID readers would allow the department to know where its troops were deployed in a hurry. Connelly says airports would be another good location for readers to track police officers reporting for duty. If the South Carolina Highway Patrol adopts the SmartShield system this fall, Connelly says, it would be used for all 800 of its highway troopers, as well as possibly the other 200 officers who provide protective services.
The Brookline Police Department, in Massachusetts, with about 140 officers, will be testing the SmartShield system until late May. The department is using the SmartShield system for badge inventory purposes, as well as access control, says Scott Wilder, the force’s director of technology. "It helps us enormously in tracking our badges," he says. Like Connelly, however, Wilder has his eyes set on future applications of this system. In particular, he would like to use SmartShield with desktop and laptop computers, requiring an officer to present the SmartShield to a reader before being able to use a computer. He also sees the SmartShield in use at crime scenes to record which officers arrive at a crime scene, when they get there and how long they stay.
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After the SCDPS began using SmartShield, it also installed a security system at their Charleston headquarters that locks all doors to the building unless proper identification is provided. Connelly says the department has incorporated SmartShield into that security system by fitting the doorways with a variety of RFID readers that can read ISO 14443-compliant RFID tags. An officer must present the badge to the reader. If it recognizes the tag's serial number, the officer is granted automatic entry to the building (that is, the door unlocks). If a badge is stolen or missing, the department can disable it by removing its access authorization in the department’s database.
According to Domurad, the system is intended for inventory control of new badges, and to track which badges are assigned to which officers, but it can also be used to complement an access control program already in use, or even as the sole access control source, if the end user so chooses. Domurad foresees a multitude of other applications in the future, including scenarios involving RFID readers on motorists' vehicles that would read a trooper's RFID badge during a traffic stop, authenticating the information on that badge.
Connelly expects to use it for other applications as well. "We can use a portable reader at special events—such as a concert or a ballgame—set up at the door, saving a lot of time in taking role [determining which officers had arrived]...and they would know immediately if an officer were missing." He adds that an emergency, such as a terrorist act, could require fast accounting of officers, and portable RFID readers would allow the department to know where its troops were deployed in a hurry. Connelly says airports would be another good location for readers to track police officers reporting for duty. If the South Carolina Highway Patrol adopts the SmartShield system this fall, Connelly says, it would be used for all 800 of its highway troopers, as well as possibly the other 200 officers who provide protective services.
The Brookline Police Department, in Massachusetts, with about 140 officers, will be testing the SmartShield system until late May. The department is using the SmartShield system for badge inventory purposes, as well as access control, says Scott Wilder, the force’s director of technology. "It helps us enormously in tracking our badges," he says. Like Connelly, however, Wilder has his eyes set on future applications of this system. In particular, he would like to use SmartShield with desktop and laptop computers, requiring an officer to present the SmartShield to a reader before being able to use a computer. He also sees the SmartShield in use at crime scenes to record which officers arrive at a crime scene, when they get there and how long they stay.
