Cop Tech 2010

After Somalia, Heal returned to
the LASD, began lobbying hard for
better crime-fighting tools and, in
1996, the LASD´s undersheriff authorized Heal to establish the TEU. The first and only unit of its kind in the country, the TEU´s mission is remarkably broad: to explore all technologies, no matter how far-fetched, that might at some point improve the three main areas of police work-effective detection, communication and, when necessary, martial action.

Being a cop is especially challenging against the backdrop of L.A. At 4,084 square miles, Los Angeles County is about 1,000 square miles larger than the combined area of Delaware and Rhode Island. Only five states surpass its population of 10.2 million. The county is home to sprawling suburbs, densely populated urban areas, deserts, mountains and several offshore islands. On average, it experiences one federally declared emergency a year, including fires, riots, and floods. Patrolling it all are just an estimated 19,000 police officers and deputies. By comparison, New York City employs 37,000 officers to patrol 322 square miles.

Heal´s meager budget (â€exactly zero,†he says) adds another degree
of difficulty. But because he is principally interested in designs for the future, rather than in purchasing what´s on the market now, he´s able to offer his contractors a non-monetary form of payment: expertise. Most law-enforcement agencies buy products only after they have been tested by larger agencies. Heal represents the tempting possibility of a long-term partnership with not just the LASD but other agencies around the country. â€We help developers by serving as their consultant,†Heal explains. â€Getting us involved at the early stages of development, they can avoid costly mistakes and define what they really need.â€

Tough Customer

When I meet Heal at his office at the LASD´s Emergency Operations Center in East L.A. in September, I am struck by the simplicity of his setup. The LASD´s gadget HQ, it turns out, consists of a few desks, a couple computers, a stack of magazines. To see the technology in action, Heal says, he spends most of his time on the road, visiting some 200 companies, government officials and private inventors every year, some as far-flung as Brazil, in pursuit of new gear.

Today we stay close to home, traveling an hour away to La Verne, California, to visit Chang Industries, a defense contractor that has been developing and evaluating, on behalf of the LASD, the first unmanned aerial vehicle for local law enforcement.

Heal wants a surveillance craft that gives on-the-ground officers portable airborne awareness of their environment. His primary request: Make it small. â€First I measured the trunk of a patrol car,†says Sam de la Torre, the drone´s designer and a former prop developer for motion pictures. â€It also needs to be light, so it won´t kill someone if it crashes over a populated area.†The SkySeer, as the drone is called, weighs just four pounds (in the event of an engine failure, it glides to earth) and stows away in a four-foot-long carrying case. A single officer can unpack and deploy it within minutes.

It´s also incredibly easy to fly, another of Heal´s requests. Using a â€ground station†the size of a briefcase, the operator selects a destination on a digital map and throws the drone into the air like a paper airplane. Guided
by GPS, the drone circles quietly above its target, relaying digital video footage to the ground station in real time. When the batteries fade after about
an hour, the drone automatically
glides back to the operator. Heal anticipates that the SkySeer will become a routine part of the LASD´s work as soon as this year, pending approval by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Also close to deployment is a next-generation bullhorn called the Magnetic Audio Device, or MAD. It can project undiluted sound over a distance of up to two miles by emitting planar sound waves in a very narrow path, similar to a laser. â€You won´t believe it until you hear it with your own ears,†Heal says, leading me into the parking lot of the manufacturer, HPV Technologies, in Costa Mesa, California. To test it out, I stand in front of a black speaker box, and Heal plays a recording of a standard Navy command: â€Heave to the right! This is a restricted area.†As I walk away across the blacktop, the recording defies the widening distance between us, remaining as clear as it would from a man speaking over my shoulder. When I step outside the sound beam, there is instant silence. One step back, and the sound returns with full force.