Case in point - Peabody detectives recently received a call concerning a disturbance at a local hotel. On arrival, the detectives discovered 22 gang members in a room, including minors, as well as a firearm and alcohol.

Historically a situation such as this would take an hour or longer just to call in names or licenses for criminal history checks.

Rather than march all 22 individuals down to the patrol car to perform the checks, or have them wait in the room with another officer while all the license and names were run, the detective used Aether's wireless handheld solution to quickly enter individual names with results from criminal history databases coming back in seconds.

Not only was this approach faster, but it eliminated the hassle of calling in each person's identification over the radio, preventing the public, including other gang members, from eavesdropping with handheld scanners. As a result, the situation was far more contained, controlled and safe.

Additionally, thanks to PocketBlue, the detective was able to determine that one of the 22 was a juvenile previously reported missing by the Department of Social Services and that a firearm located in the room was unregistered resulting in an arrest made for an illegal possession of a firearm.

"Prior to deploying PocketBlue, detectives had to use the radio to call in criminal checks because they typically didn't have access to the laptop outside their patrol cars. And since gangs and drug dealers often use radio scanners to track police activity, it can put our guys at risk," said Detective Scott Richards of the Peabody Police Department.

"Now, using PocketBlue, detectives can quickly access criminal information and send silent messages over a secure system without worrying about criminals knowing where they are and what they are doing."

"Empowering field detectives and officers with the tools they need to make the community safer, as well as keep themselves safe, is what our company is all about," said Mike Mancuso, President of Aether System's Mobile Government Division.

"If this turned out to be a case of kids just being rowdy, a community would not want all of their officers called to the scene. The fact that it turned out to be something more and was quickly and efficiently handled contributed to everyone's safety."

PocketBlue is an extension of Aether's suite of mobile law enforcement products, which includes Aether's flagship laptop product, PacketCluster Patrol.

PocketBlue is the first handheld application that gives law enforcement a fully integrated mobile data system - providing criminal database queries, alarm capabilities, and text messaging for all connected mobile users.

PocketBlue allows law enforcement professionals to check the status of vehicles, persons, boats, articles and guns without burdening a dispatcher, so they can stay focused on priority calls.

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