The NYPD is going through all sorts of exciting changes these days. Cops are learning how to use iPhones, send e-mails and be nice. Now, one councilman wants to bring them into the 21st century and get rid of the typewriters they still use.
The New York Daily News reports that Councilman Danny Dromm (D-Queens) will introduce a bill on Thursday that would “require cops to scrap their old-school typewriters by 2016, as part of a technology report they’d have to submit.”
Yes, while New York is one of the cities pioneering the open data movement, the city’s cops are still relying on typewriters to fill out police reports. In 2009, the New York Post reported on the upkeep required to keep the archaic machines “in every police precinct, including one in every detective squad,” which amounted to a $1 million contract with a typewriter company.
Commissioner Bill Bratton defended the use of the antiquated technology at recent state Senate hearing, saying, “Currently, some forms are still required to be typed, so we do still have typewriters, but the vast majority of Department forms are now digitized.”
(Photo: Tim Hamilton)
