Cisco Wireless Network Helps Baltimore Police Department Secure City

Article Summary
When the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) received the largest grant in the agency's history to update its technology, the communications division set out to create a mobile office for patrol cars. This customer success story describes how the department:

• Used Cisco Aironet® wireless solutions to create mobile "hot spots" around station houses to ease reporting and file transfers
• Integrated Cisco Secure Access Control Server (ACS) software to lock down the wireless access points and protect the BPD network from hackers

Background
Baltimore is the 13th-largest city in the United States. The jurisdiction of the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) encompasses 78.3 square miles of land and 7.7 square miles of waterway. Since 1999, Baltimore has seen the largest reduction in violent crime of the nation's 25 largest cities—an achievement one former police commissioner attributed to better technology and more focused policing. The current commissioner, Kevin P. Clark, continues the commitment to using technology to help the city's police force fight crime more effectively.

Challenge
The communications section of the BPD is managed by Police Lieutenant Craig Meier, who oversees a staff of 250 people responsible for all of the department's voice and data communications, including dispatch, 911, and one of the most exciting new programs undertaken by the department—a virtual mobile office for patrol cars.

In 2001, the BPD received US$25.6 million, from the U.S. Department of Justice's Community Oriented Policing Service (COPS) program, which provides funds to police departments to update technology and hire more officers.

Approximately US$1.5 million of the COPS grant was allocated for the purchase of a mobile report writing system (MRWS) that would allow officers to write, transmit, and file reports directly from patrol cars. "We know from experience that a stronger police presence translates to greater public confidence and better crime fighting," Meier explains. "Our goal was to keep officers on the street rather than behind a desk writing reports."

To that end, the department purchased 160 new laptops to deploy in the field and began planning the required network upgrade. "The department started using mobile technology back in 1996 with a private Motorola RF network. Unfortunately, the 9600-bps throughput of the network was simply not adequate," Meier explains. "Using a Verizon cellular digital packet data [CDPD] network we could improve effective throughput to 14.2 kbps, but that was still not sufficient to push out software updates or large files to cars. We wanted to deploy a higher-bandwidth network that would maximize our mobile office in a patrol car."

Solution
Meier decided to deploy 802.11b-standard access points using Cisco Aironet® wireless equipment. In 2001 Meier had upgraded the communications center from hubs to switches from Cisco Systems®, so he was already familiar with the Cisco equipment and trusted its quality and performance.

Using the Cisco wireless access points, Meier's team created "hot spots" around nine police district station houses. Each station house has two separate access points that cover the parking lot areas. When officers pull in for shift changes they can upload and download files and reports directly from their patrol cars.

Each patrol car is equipped with a modem that includes a wireless CDPD card and Cisco Aironet 350 Series wireless client. The modem first looks for a Cisco access point. If there is no access point within range, the system buffers the data and then transmits it using the CDPD network. The handoff from one network to another is transparent to the officers.

PacketCluster Patrol software from Aether lets officers write offense reports electronically, or access the network to check records for licenses, people, weapons, or boats. The software can also break down small images, such as mug shots or photos of missing children, into smaller packets to send across the CDPD network. In addition, the department's computer-aided-dispatch system is connected to PacketCluster and uses the Cisco wireless network, so all calls dispatched to an officer through the system appear on the laptop screen. "This gives us an alternate path for our dispatch calls, which now gives us a backup if the radio system is down," Meier explains.

The department installed Cisco wireless access points but originally the only way to lock down the access points was through a wireless security standard called Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP). However, the security provided by WEP was inadequate: In WEP, the encryption keys are static, which means intruders can get access or control of the device quite easily. "These access points are direct links to our network," Meier explains. "Without adequate security, 802.11b is just an open door to your network. So we purchased Cisco's Secure Access Control Server software."

Cisco Secure ACS software controls the authentication, authorization, and accounting for users accessing the department's wireless network. Meier's team controls who has network access, determines what types of network services are available to users, and tracks all user activity on the network.

At the same time, Meier installed a new Cisco PIX® Firewall. "Our old firewall was just not adequate. The PIX product is more robust and gives us intrusion detection so we are able to better secure the entire network."

Results
The mobile office running over the Cisco infrastructure has been deployed since August, and Meier says the department is extremely pleased with the Cisco network. According to Meier, the network has contributed to the improved efficiency and effectiveness of department administration. "We estimate that we're saving at least an hour of each officer's time per 8-hour shift—time that they can spend on the streets rather than in the station house doing paperwork or looking for information."

The system has also reduced the growing demand on the department's radio network, which had previously experienced such overload that there were actually moments when officers couldn't use the radio to answer dispatch calls or report situations. Now officers are communicating with dispatch through their laptop computers over the Cisco wireless network and the demands on the radio network have dropped substantially—from around 40 percent utilization to 20 percent in an average 24-hour period.

Officers also feel more secure about the confidentiality and the security of their communications. The department upgraded to a digital radio system in 1999 to prevent unauthorized monitoring of police communications. But new scanning technology has compromised the security of even the digital system. With the new wireless network, however, officers use their laptops to transmit information securely.

The network has not only allowed patrol officers to spend more time in the field, it's given them instant access to critical information—another factor in preventing and combating crime. "Prior to deploying the network, when our Warrant Apprehension Task Force created a wanted poster, officers wouldn't receive the information until they saw the printed poster in the station house," says Meier. "Now we can transmit electronic posters to the patrol cars as soon as we receive them."

Next Steps
As of March 2004, 3200 Baltimore police officers have been trained to use the system, and 160 police cars carry laptop computers. Meier hopes to obtain additional funding to equip more cars. He would also like to see more wireless access points deployed around the city, such as at refueling depots and at the city's 42 firehouses. "We'd like to use the network to facilitate data communications and data sharing with other agencies," he explains.

The city is also working on plans to upgrade its two Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) rings from OC-3 to OC-192. Meier hopes to extend the wireless network by tapping into the upgraded fiber network.

And when budgets allow, Meier hopes to give patrol cars wireless access to the department's Records Management System (RMS), enable officers to use e-mail from their cars, and add video to the department's arsenal of mobile communications tools. "We already have 40 cars equipped with cameras, and we know the Cisco infrastructure will enable us to support video transmissions across the network."

But the most important metric for success now and in the future is the safety and confidence of the Baltimore community. "The city has seen a decrease in violent crime over the past few years and the trend is continuing," says Meier. "We want to continue to give our officers better technology so that they have the information they need at their fingertips to fight crime."

February 2004