From www.dailygazette.com / By Ted Remsnyder/ January 17, 2023
SCHENECTADY — An innovative software program will allow Schenectady police officers to track which streets have been patrolled in the city with real-time updates, the city announced on Tuesday.
The new Patrolfinder software was produced by the Transfinder school bus-routing company in partnership with the Schenectady Police Department. The software, which will be deployed in all department patrol vehicles by the end of the week, will allow officers to utilize an app on their in-car tablets to monitor what streets were patrolled during previous police shifts and what areas need to be patrolled in the current shift.
“The City of Schenectady’s new partnership with Transfinder, led by CEO Antonio Civitella, is revolutionizing the Schenectady Police Department’s Field Services Bureau,” Mayor Gary McCarthy said on Tuesday. “This GIS (Geographic Information System) software dramatically improves the flow of information to the patrol officer, while expanding community safety, and forward-facing transparency.”
According to the Schenectady company, the software is designed to “increase equitable policing, improve department transparency, increase officer safety and efficiency and ultimately make the city safer.”
McCarthy was joined at the event by Schenectady Police Chief Eric Clifford and Transfinder CEO Antonio Civitella.
“We’ll be doing a full city-wide deployment of it, where we’re doing it on a limited basis now,” McCarthy said previously. “It will give us better tracking capabilities in terms of exchanging information and improving that flow going in and out of patrol cars. The ideal thing is to put a patrol car on every street on a regular basis, so it’s creating that level of deterrence and visibility that people want.”
In the company’s 2022 financial report, Transfinder announced that it had 25th consecutive year of revenue growth, with the company reporting $28.9 million in revenue in 2022, a 24% increase from the $23.3 million the firm recorded in 2021.
