Herman said the city will soon install a computer network linking all city agencies. Just a short drive from the Convention Center is the very new police headquarters for the combined city-county police department that serves the metropolitan Charlotte area. A large mural in the lobby surrounds a circular reception station. They handle it with 1,283 sworn officers and 91 comm center positions. They have asked for 26 additional positions in 1998 and another 21 in 1999.
Dispatchers pick shifts once a year by seniority and performance.
There are two individual fluorescent lights at each work position. The comm center is staffed and supervised by civilians, but it ultimately overseen by a police captain. At one end are 15 call-taker positions , each with a Compaq computer and an IBM terminal. Some positions have a computer mouse, others have trackballs . All dispatches are immediately transmitted to in-car laptop computers, which can also access criminal justice databases.