Metro wants
your patch!
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Metro would be
proud to display your department's patch
at our office. If you would like to put your department's patch on display please send it
to Metro at:
Metro Technology Services, Inc.
435 Devon Park Drive
Bldg 500, Suite 510
Wayne, PA 19087
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| Welcome new users! | |
Among departments that have recently installed Visual Alert:
Bell Township
West Leechburg
South Fork
Freeport Borough
Sharpsville Borough
Schuylkill County District Attorney's Office
Millvale Borough
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Contact Us
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metalert@metroalert.com
Toll free:
800-658-5716
Local:
610-296-7450
435 Devon Park Drive, Bldg 500, Suite 510,
Wayne PA 19087
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Metro Celebrates 30th Year
266 Law Enforcement Agencies have been
Metro Customers for More than a Decade
Metro Technology Services, Inc., a leading provider of public safety software solutions to agencies in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, has announced the celebration of its 30th year in business. Founded in 1983, the company continues to focus on providing the law enforcement community with innovative software solutions.
"Public safety technology has come a long way since we founded the company in 1983," said Tony Iannacone, founder and president of Metro Technology. "The first release of our law enforcement-specific software was in the 1980s and was called ALERT® and was the foundation of the comprehensive Visual Alert® solution that public safety agencies across Pennsylvania and New Jersey are using today. We are proud to have retained many customers from the early days, as they have been integral in providing feedback to us to help us develop solutions that truly fit their specific needs. Our 30th anniversary is a significant milestone and we look forward to continuing to develop software solutions that enable law enforcement agencies to better serve their communities."
The stability and value Metro Technology is able to offer public safety agencies is evident in its long-time relationships with customers. The Pennsylvania police agencies of Doylestown Borough, Easttown Township and Upper Southampton Township were Metro Technology's first ALERT users in the 1980s, and are still leveraging the power of the software today. Eighteen police agencies have been using what is now Visual Alert for more than 20 years and 248 agencies have been using Metro's software solutions for more than a decade.
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Metro Salutes Those Who Lead
 | | Chief James Donnelly |
Metro Technology honors Chief James Donnelly, who currently leads both the Doylestown Borough and New Britain Borough Police Departments, with an interview in the spring issue of the Bulletin, the quarterly magazine of the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association (PCPA). In the article, Chief Donnelly talks about the challenge of streamlining operations as the two departments work toward becoming a single regional department by early 2014. Enjoy this spring's Donnelly interview and look for Metro to recognize other police leaders with future interviews.
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Visual Alert Version 2
Update 2.15.0 available now
Version 2.15.0 is available for download. To download the update and the instructions for performing the update, click here. Below are highlights of the modifications made in the release. For a complete list of enhancements, improvements and modifications in this release, go to the HELP Menu in your Visual ALERT 2® software.
Traffic Citations
The Rules and Obligations section of the Traffic Citation has been updated to the 2013 regulations.
Evidence
The Evidence Tag Number format has been modified so when using the "E" format option the Evidence Tag Number will not reset to zero at the beginning of each year.
Incident Management
The Calls Awaiting Approval option has been modified so when you select 'Most Recent' the reports will be listed properly.
Parking Enforcement
The Parking Ticket Processing form has been updated to include the Check Number if a ticket is paid by a check.
The Parking Ticket Paid Ticket Report has been modified to include a column for Check Number.
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 Visual Alert Version 1Update 1.16.739 available now
Version 1.16.739 is available for download. To download the update and the instructions for performing the update, click here. |
Police Movie Picks
End of Watch
Starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña
 In the history of police movies, Training Day was an unforgettable film that had people talking even before Denzel Washington won an Oscar for it. Now the creator of that film, writer and director David Ayer, has returned to police life with the memorable End of Watch. Like Training Day, Ayer's new effort takes viewers inside the Los Angeles Police Department and gives them a close-up look at the complex lives of two officers.
This time, however, the focus is on doing the right thing, instead of getting away with the wrong thing, as Washington's character tried to do. The protagonists are two young partners played with real-world intensity by Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña, and they're refreshingly old school. "I am the police," Gyllenhaal's character says at one point, without a trace of irony. "And I make a difference."
The police need to make a difference in this fast-paced story, which escalates in violence and complexity as it unfolds. On routine patrol, officers Taylor (Gyllenhaal) and Zavala (Peña) stumble into the activities of a Mexican drug cartel that has put down roots in the ghetto. When they uncover a cache of coke and elaborate weapons, it leads them to a wider web of crime and cruelty, and they become marked men.
With a crew of gangsters named Demon, Wicked and Big Evil, it's no surprise that the action gets more and more intense as the movie progresses. At the same time, your sense of dread grows too, because Ayer makes you really care about these guys. Gyllenhaal and Peña play them so well, and their friendship and partnership seems so real, that you'll be rooting for them to succeed as they head for the final showdown. It may be old-fashioned, but it's a good feeling.
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Police Book Pick
Gun Machine
By Warren Ellis
 Any cop can tell you that it's a wacky world out there, and you never know when a case will lead to something truly bizarre. In Warren Ellis's Gun Machine, that's exactly what happens to New York Police Detective John Tallow, when he explores bullet holes in the wall at a crime scene and stumbles onto the weirdest cache of weapons ever. In the apartment next to the scene - did we mention it was the site of his partner's murder? - are guns from all eras across history, from an 1836 flintlock to the .44 handgun used by the Son of Sam. Strangest of all, the guns have all been refitted and used in more recent murders. Assigned to track the weapons, and their role in the new cases, Tallow discovers their owner is a serial killer whose lifestyle is a cross between recluse, homeless person and time traveler. Ellis, who won fame for comic book graphic novels like RED, never gives the killer a name, but we get to know him as "the hunter" and we learn he fancies himself living in a time when Native Americans inhabited Manhattan. And though he lives on leaves, berries and dried squirrel meat, he is deadly in his knowledge of 21st century firepower. How he hunts, and who he is, ignites Tallow's investigative instincts, which have been worn down by the death of his partner and an overall sense of despair at what a mess the world has become. In the end, the swirl of the plot brings in Wall Street conspiracies, Big Brother surveillance and political intrigue on top of the investigation itself, so the book's pace becomes almost manic by the final chapter. But Ellis's sharp writing and vivid descriptions make this a memorable trip into a world where the bizarre is routine - and riveting.
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Police Hero Pick
When they go above and beyond ...
 In the winter months, frigid water and ice are deadly adversaries for police and firefighters. When temperatures drop, water can quickly cause hypothermia if someone has the misfortune to fall in. All that made the actions of Boston police officer Ed Norton even more remarkable at the end of December, when he jumped into the 40-degree water of the Fort Point Channel off Boston Harbor to save a woman who had fallen in. On the Friday before Christmas, Norton was one of several officers who responded to a call about a woman in the water in the area known for its restaurants and HarborWalk attractions. She was struggling and said she couldn't hold on, so Norton didn't hesitate. "I was the first police officer to see where she was, and there was no time to think," he said later. "I certainly can't stand on the side and watch her drown. It's as simple as that." Norton swam to her with a rescue ring, as two firefighters jumped in to assist. "I feel like I did what I was capable of doing at the time and needed to be done," he said, though he ended up getting treated for hypothermia along with the woman. For his actions, Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis gave Norton a commendation and praised him for "a remarkable show of heroism, immediate action, and courage that made a difference this Christmas for a family. ... She might not have survived if he hadn't taken that immediate action." Back at the station house, Norton's colleagues had their own honor for him, Baywatch style. "They put my face in a picture of David Hasselhoff's body," he said.
(Source: www.policeone.com)
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Police Perp Pick
When they make our job easy ...
 The YouTube website is a wonderful way to share your skills with a wide audience. But sometimes you'd be better off keeping those skills to yourself. Just ask Kyle Thomas Berry of Auburn, NH, who was arrested in January after having the bright idea to share his skills growing marijuana in a series of 35 videos he posted on YouTube. In the videos, the 40-year-old Berry walked viewers through the various steps of growing pot, and at one point bragged at how clever his seed supplier was because it sent its shipments marked as "video games." Unfortunately, Berry wasn't nearly as clever as his British supplier, Herbie's Seeds, because one of the packages he showed off had his name on it, and he removed the contents on camera. Acting on a tip from an informant, the Drug Task Force of the Rockingham County Sheriff's Office began watching the videos to make a case against Berry and arrested him last month. While Berry never revealed his face to the camera directly, a sheriff's spokesman said, he carelessly allowed his reflection to be viewed on a wall on one occasion and it was sharp enough to match a driver's license photo. Based on the video evidence, the Sheriff's department got a warrant to search Berry's home and basement growing den and confiscated 16 plants worth $16,000 on the street.
(Source: clumsycrooks.com and the New Hampshire Union Leader newspaper)
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Police Photo Pick
When it is worth 1,000 words ...
 | | Hello, Kitty ... you're busted. |
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