r laptops mounted to the center console or dashboard of the patrol car between the driver and passenger seat or a system mounted in the trunk with the monitor, keyboard and mouse wired up to the front and attached to either the center console or dashboard. These systems vary in size and speed depending on the time they where installed. "The first MDTs where installed in the 1970's in Atlantic City" (Greenman) and in the 1980's "Mobile data terminals [where] installed in police and fire department vehicles in major cities" (Slomnicki). Many law enforcement agencies are moving to hand held MDTs that are smaller than laptops that can be taken out of the vehicle and utilized in the field rather than the officer having to go back to the patrol car to get the information. These hand held units are about the size of a medium size notebook and are extremely durable. Systems range in price, according to the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Technology Clearinghouse, the Ohio State Highway Patrol (OSHP) who employs 1368 total sworn officers and 1203 civilians purchased the Multi-Agency Radio Communications System (MARCS) with an estimated cost of $271.8 million in late 1999. This system included laptops purchased and manufactured by an unknown source, software and hardware manufactured by Printrak, MDSI and Motorola. "The project included 201 radio tower sites; 800MHz trunked voice with telephone interconnect capability and a separate 800MHz data system that covers 97.5% of the state with a 5% grade of service; computer aided dispatch for the OSHP, Natural Resources, Emergency Management and Rehabilitation & Corrections; automatic vehicle location; and mobile data computers in all OSHP and Natural Resources enforcement vehicles" (IACP). The systems use wireless (RF) communication which is the same technology used in mobile phones.
             The computers in patrol cars use Microsoft Win...