Evaluating a police-implemented AVM system: The St. Louis experience (phase I)

The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department is the first major urban police department to implement an automatic vehicle monitoring (AVM) system. The AVM technology incorporates computer-aided dead-reckoning, thus facilitating vehicle tracking on individual streets in a city. Implemented as a Phase I prototype system in one police district early in 1975, the test system is evaluated in this paper utilizing a three-pronged approach. Focusing on 1) technology, 2) police operations, and 3) attitudes and organizational impact, attention is given to operational performance in Phase I, to ameliorative action for Phase II, and to the affects of AVM on response time, officer safety, voice-band congestion, and command and control.