Senator Tony Fulton wants all state vehicles equipped with GPS devices so anybody and everybody can track the vehicles via a website. Sounds like a great idea to me. If it were done correctly, bored computer geeks could rig up any number of nifty applications. You could trigger an alert any time a state vehicle exceeds the speed limit, for example. Or your phone could alert you any time a state patrol vehicle is near you on the highway.
Oh, we have to pay for it somehow? Hmm, that could be rough. Considering Sen. Fulton pitched a fit about the Unicam's new laptops I have a hard time understanding where he thinks he's going to dig up the money for a project this huge. More power to him if he figures it out.
Even if we do get over the technological and cost hurdles, there are oodles of policy questions to think about. Would any vehicles be exempt from the tracking? Would any departments be exempt from tracking? What security issues must we deal with? And so on.
Actually, Sen. Fulton, if you want to more closely track state employees, I suggest you start more modestly by improving audio and video recording capabilities of state law enforcement activities. Doing so would increase protections for the public, law enforcement officials, and the state itself. How 'bout it?
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“You could trigger an alert any time a state vehicle exceeds the speed limit, for example.”
Now THAT would be awesome. Some of UNL’s vehicles have a max speed of 60 mph, but this would definitely slow things down with the other vehicles.
Now if you could associate the GPS to read a UNL or State ID, things would be really interesting.
How about a whistleblower line where people can call in to some agency like the auditor or whomever to report blatent abuses of states vehicles, employees, etc.?
At a time when all local and state governments are looking for ways to cut expenses comes this suggested colossal waste of money.
Apparently people do call the state auditor’s office about things like that. After he got a call about some things in Cedar Bluffs, he sent two auditors there the next day. He has a large enough staff to do things like that, but he’d definitely need to add more to do something like taht IMHO.
Sen. Fulton seems to be full of terribly expensive ideas. Wouldn’t it be cheaper to put a big ID# sticker on the back of state vehicles and have a hotline so people could call in bad driving? Like the How am I Driving stickers on trucks.
All of the state vehicles have ID numbers as it is, but that’s not as sexy as saying you’re going to install a spendy GPS system so you can look out for the ol’ taxpayers.
As much as I enjoy speeding, and would LOVE this law to pass, legislators would see arrests of moany crimes drop due to
“Or your phone could alert you any time a state patrol vehicle is near you on the highway.”
Looking for a way home so that there will be no cops to catch you driving drunk?
Need to plan a good get away for a robbery?
This would be HEAVEN for criminals!
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