It’s only getting easier for police officers to access information while on the job.

The DeKalb Police Department will upgrade most of its computer system during the next year, in response to the availability of better technology that allows officers to spend less time on paperwork.

Police officers currently use mobile data terminals, or MDTs, in their patrol vehicles.

“The MDT system is very useful but only allows us to access state files,” DeKalb police Cpl. Jim Haacker said. “It doesn’t allow us to access in-house files that our department has.”

Laptops soon will replace the MDTs and could be used in patrol cars as early as December.

“The new system will be much quicker, have the capability of being removed from a patrol vehicle and allows us to access DeKalb police files that the state might not have,” Haacker said.

DeKalb police use a central computer system that holds local information. Currently, the information stored in that computer only can be accessed from the police department or a police sub-station. Department sub-stations are located in Wal-Mart, 2300 Sycamore Road, and University Village, 722 N. Annie Glidden Road.

With the laptops, that information will be available to all officers who have either a laptop or palm pilot.

The Cops More Program 2001, operated by the U.S. Department of Justice, has issued the department more than $230,000 for the upgrades.

Police also will be able to write reports while in a patrol vehicle, making it unnecessary for officers to return to a police station for that purpose. The data will be saved temporarily to a disk and later loaded into the central computer.

“The ultimate goal is to have wireless report-writing, so officers won’t have to return to the department to submit a report at all,” DeKalb Police Chief Bill Feithen said.

The project will be enacted in three phases during the next year. The laptops will be added first, followed by the purchase of a digital booking system and the addition of wireless report-writing. Lastly is the addition of palm pilots to the bike patrol, allowing those officers to access department records.

The digital booking system will make it possible for all of the new computerized information to be processed quickly and efficiently.

Officers can expect the laptops in about two to three months, Feithen said.

“We have to get together with the state of Illinois and get some agreements [on the use of the funds] drawn up,” Feithen said. “We also have yet to receive final approval for the project from the city council, although they did authorize the initial grant application.”

The entire project is not expected to take more than a year.