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Remaining NYPD Typewriters Are Drain on Police Time, Money


By

Jon Hill

Published Jul 13, 2009

Modified Jul 13, 2009


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Photo: Gerry Visco's Flickr.

 


By

Jon Hill

Published Jul 13, 2009

Modified Jul 13, 2009


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If you think Windows Vista bugs are hurting your productivity, just be thankful you're not still struggling with typewriter ribbon and jammed keys. That's what the NY Post reports hundreds of city cops must do thanks to the NYPD's reliance on outdated technology, and it's slowing down policework. One cop tells the Post the typewriters are so archaic that, "We have to sneak around the rest of the precinct in search of a ribbon to steal." The Post also cites a retired NYPD officer and criminal justice professor who concludes the inefficient machines are hobbling the NYPD, discouraging officers from making arrests because filling out the necessary forms requires use of the dinosaurish typewriters and carbon-paper. So when will the city finally pull police office technology out of the 1970s? Well, since the city signed more than $1 million in new typewriter purchasing and servicing contracts last year, it's looking like robots could rule the subways before the NYPD ditches its last Selectric.

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contracts

nypd

police

technology

Typewriters


Jon Hill

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