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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 That's what the NY Post reports hundreds of city cops must do thanks to the NYPD's reliance on outdated technology, and it's slowing down policework.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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Wow. And to think I thought we were behind the times, when we threw out our typewriter in 1990.
Did Jimmy McNulty join the NYPD or sumptin'?
Damnit, you completely beat me to it.
"Use little dots. The deputy ops loves little dots."
I would try to write something clever here, but this makes me want to cry. At least I have the sideshow in Albany to make me laugh
Government being slow, wasteful and inefficient?
No way!
the word is corrupt -
They should have sold them to the "Life on Mars" production designer when they had they chance...
I can't believe it! Why? What waste! What inefficiency! What stupidity!
I'd love to hear their reason for keeping typewriters.
Maybe the Commish's brother's typewriter business would tank if they did. Pure speculation, but wouldn't be surprised either.
You're KIDDING.
Cue the Barney Miller theme song.
NYPD: keepin' it old school since 1845.
Remington arms. Remington typewriters.
When the power goes off as it always does eventually, typewriters work just fine. I still have one.
www.forgotten-ny.com
So? When the power goes off my laptop works just fine.
Does your laptop have a built in printer?
Isn't that what the monitor is for?
Ever hear of an "uninterruptible power supply," a.k.a. UPS? If there's a sustained power outage, being able to type up reports would be the least of NYPD's problems. Precincts should have emergency generators anyway.
Besides, computers are far more useful than just to type things on. You can do all sorts of things on them that a single-purpose typewriter can't do. As the owner of a website, I would think you of all people would know that.
"Besides, computers are far more useful than just to type things on." Do you mean like playing Grand Theft Auto on their tour of duty to hone their crime stopping and driving abilities?
Amen.
The NYPD is one of the few NYC agencies that still requires some forms to be typewritten.
I mean it was only recently that they acquired the fingerprint scanning machines.
Similarly I noticed that the MTA has someone write on a paper form on a clipboard the arrival and departure time of each train at W 4th St while sitting in the control room at the south end of the B,D,F platform surrounded by vintage 1930s equipment.
Computers? Nah, they are so 20th C.
The MTA at least has some excuse for using ancient technology: the switching systems for the trains were in some cases designed as much as a century ago, and replacing it all with more modern equipment was prohibitively expensive even back before the city was completely and totally broke.
The NYPD... not so much.
Gothamist had to mention how bad Windows Vista? Vist isn't that bad at all. The problem is people hate change. They rather use the same OS for the next 100 years.
I wonder where all that Homeland Security upgrade money went to?
This is a joke right? There is no justification for this if it's for real.
Can gothamist reach out for a statement?
Even frickin' librarians have the cops licked in the technology department.
The Kings Highway branch of the Brooklyn Public Library recently reopened with full wi-fi, laptop outlets, and six self-check-out machine kiosks. To say nothing of online renewing and hold orders.
The article says that the out of date technology makes cops not want to make as many arrests.
Anything that keeps the NYPD from making more outrageously frivolous arrests as it does (what is it like 10 stories on Gothamist in the last couple of weeks?) is a good thing.
Fuck computers, they should start chiseling reports onto slate tablets from now on.
it's true.. my friend is a cop and i was talking to him on the phone while he was at work one day... i said what is that noise in the background? and he was like ohh im typing some things up on this trusty typewriter.. i couldnt believe they were still using typewriters a la jessica fletcher, but even she had upgraded to a computer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Fletcher#Career_and_life_as_a_best-selling_author
Hold on here a second. Can you imagine how much the union would want to train these baboons to use a computer if they were to replace the typewriters?
Snoopy hit the nail on the head.
I'm so glad all the post 9/11 Homeland Security money went to concrete planters around buildings that nobody in their right mind would want to bomb (or buildings that would be improved with a bomb - I'm looking at you .. Port Authority Terminal) and stuff like medal detectors for the MTA Operations Center instead of practical things like the technology to improve response to crimes and emergencies.
Do they have walkie talkies that can talk to each other yet, or do they have to telegraph each other in the next crisis?
Metal detectors, that is. Nobody who works for the MTA would have a medal for anything.
You are totally wrong! The MTA awards medals to any and every individual that can show they can do nothing and cost the MTA more than anyone else in the organization on a day to day basis. There are also medals awarded for people who can do the same for long term projects.
These awards are based on the same merit sysem as the Port Authority, the USPS, the NYC Parks Department and others that have subscribed to the "DUH we be union workers United."
When they said Ray kelly lives by the Royal Manual, who knew it was a typewriter?
Wow! My father threw that out when I was a boy 30 years ago.
Papyrus anyone?
As part of their job, NYPD orders it's members into dangerous situations. Parking your butt in front of a PC and away from an antique should qualify.
Hmm...makes you wonder what they do with the crime stats?
Crime stats are duly reported to others that type out the crime stats and are recorded in a card file so all the stats are duly recorded.
And then people wonder why the NYPD can't catch repeat offenders.
Meanwhile these defenders of justice have no problem writing up a vehicle that's parked on a hydrant or crosswalk next to a Dunkin Donut shop.
Yet another publication repeating this Post story without checking its facts. I took one minute to e-mail Swintec to check the facts of the deal with the NYPD, because unlike a dozen online news outlets, I suspected NY cops were not likely to be using 1920's Remingtons to complete their paperwork, and I was right. The Post falsifies the following details of the article:
1) The technology being purchased (for example, no manual typewriters were purchased; rather, electronic typewriters with computer functions were purchased)
2) The length of the contract (It was for five years, not three)
3) The cost of the typewriters to be paid by the NYPD (They were offered contract prices, substantially lower than the retail price quoted by the NY Post)
4) Whether the typewriters are maintained or serviced (They were, as this was part of the contract)
5) Whether the NYPD was obligated to/intended to buy $1M of merchandise (They were not.)
You can contact Ed Michaels, sales manager at Swintec, at customerinfo@swintec.com to verify the facts like I did. I am not clear why doing so isn't a requirement for the Post (and everyone else who repeats the story as gospel).