RFID Asset Tracking Saves Time, Money at Texas Police Department
More than 6,000 Assets Tagged
In the Richardson, Texas, police department, equipment check-ins and check-outs are mandatory with shift changes. Officers were spending up to 15 minutes each shift recording the serial number from every radio, shotgun, citation printer and other piece of equipment in the vehicle.
It’s a time-consuming task that is also repetitive, boring and often not given a lot of attention. To address those issues, Richardson’s Police Chief Jimmy Spivey searched for technology that would make the shift transition easier and faster, and found it in Xerafy’s RFI (radio frequency identification) asset management software. Chief Spivy credits the new system for saving 7.5 to 12 hours of labor on this task per day, allowing his officers to better serve the community of Richardson through patrolling and intervention.
RFID is certainly not a new concept in inventory management, but its deployment in Richardson is somewhat unique. The officers coming on shift use a handheld computer with an integrated RFID reader to do a quick sweep of the vehicle in which all elements needed to be inventoried are barcoded. Using GlobeRanger software, the reader automatically identifies the assets in the vehicle and records their serial numbers plus a time/date stamp of the scan, which is then updated in real time to the Richardson PD. Any missing parts can be instantly located or replaced, prior to the officer going on patrol. The system is not just saving time; it may be saving lives.
Police impersonators pose tremendous risk to the public, and Richardson’s PD wanted to do whatever possible to minimize that risk. Although turnover isn’t a huge issue, uniform replacements are frequent, and old pieces of uniforms are not always returned. Manual inventory was a difficult and time-consuming chore.
GlobeRanger provided its asset tracking system to the Richardson PD and worked with the department to find the best RFID tags for uniform tracking and to get all uniform items tagged. Now when new shirts, jackets or other items are issued, the officer presents his or her ID card, which is scanned along with the apparel item to associate it to the specific officer. The system has greatly improved record keeping accuracy while saving time.
One of the challenges faced by RFID tags is heat, and the heat inside unattended squad cars in Richardson routinely exceeds 120 degrees. GlobeRanger selected Xerafy to help it find the best tags and adhesives for the Richardson PD project.
With more than 6,000 tagged assets in the program, Richardson Police Department is using several types of Xerafy tags, enabling officers to complete the inventory in just a few seconds.
Saving lives, saving time, RFID provided a technological solution to a human resource challenge.
About Xerafy
Xerafy’s innovations have changed the price-performance ratio for RFID tags and made it possible for customers to track assets in a wide range of harsh environments. Xerafy provides read-on-metal tags that can be embedded directly into assets to meet a full range of needs for RFID asset tracking in the aerospace, industrial, data center, healthcare, energy and other industries. Xerafy is headquartered in Hong Kong and maintains U.S. sales and support offices in San Jose, Dallas and Minneapolis, and additional offices in the U.K. and China.
Written by Suzi Harkola
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