PORTERDALE, Ga. — Porterdale Police Department recently was the recipient of a donation that will make its officers much more efficient in enforcing the law in the town.

Conyers Police Department gave computer tablets and other hardware to the Newton County town’s police force after declaring it surplus following its own computer equipment upgrade.

Porterdale has five fulltime officers and two reserve officers.

Police Chief Jason Cripps said it allows them to return to duty faster because they can write reports and print tickets while at the scene rather than having to return to headquarters for the same actions.

“It helps us keep officers in the field rather than in the office,” he said.

The donation includes 12 Panasonic FZ G1 tablets, 12 tablet vehicle mounts, 12 keyboards and 12 power adaptors, Conyers Police Chief Scott Freeman said. 

Cripps said it replaces outdated equipment that included some Pentium 3 laptops — some more than a decade old, he said.

He said he wanted to publicly thank Freeman for the equipment that Cripps valued at about $20,000.

The new tablets — which mount inside the department’s vehicles — feature touch screen technology and cameras that allow officers to take photos that can be easily merged with their reports, Cripps said.

It also will allow the department to fully utilize a records management system (RMS) software.

Freeman said he saw the donation as a “win-win situation” for both cities. He said he discussed Porterdale’s need for equipment with Cripps and decided to share the equipment with the Newton County town to make sure “it stays in a policing environment.”

“It’s being able to be put to a good use out there in Porterdale,” he said. “I saw this as a great opportunity to help them take that next step in the evolution of their technology.”

He said the city of Conyers regularly upgrades the police department’s computer equipment — which left it with surplus computer tablets and other hardware.

“(Conyers) has a really good replacement plan,” he said. “A lot of times equipment is not needing to be scrapped.”

Both police chiefs agreed that 21st century law enforcement is “very technology driven” and requires such equipment to efficiently enforce the law.

“To have that technology in the car, at the officer’s fingertips, it is so crucial nowadays to be able to have that access to real time information,” Freeman said.

“For us in Conyers, we simply can’t police without it like we did 20 years ago,” he said.

Without the donation, Cripps said the Porterdale department likely would have needed to wait on the city’s share of countywide SPLOST funding to pay for such equipment.