THOMASVILLE -- Cop-occupied police cars parked alongside Thomasville streets might be aiming radar at passing motorists, or they might be writing reports on lap-top computers.

When Phase III of Thomasville Police Department's mobile data terminals is implemented in about eight weeks, police will see the same screen on their computers as dispatchers see at 911.

Also, computer screens will reveal the physical location of every TPD vehicle citywide.

In 2003 and Phase I, officers could run checks on vehicle tags, drivers licenses and outstanding warrants. Also, officers were able to e-mail among units, rather than using radios, ridding airwaves of voice traffic.

Last year, Phase II brought wireless reporting, which allowed reports to be composed in -- and transmitted from -- patrol units.

"Any report that we do can be done in our car and sent wirelessly back to the office," police Chief David Huckstep explained.

Officers are visible and accessible in the field instead of being at police headquarters writing reports.

The reports do not hit paper until a copy is needed. "We didn't cut a tree down to make this report," the chief said.

Phase III includes an upgrade to the 911 system.

Ann Powell, E-911 director, said her agency handles about 10,000 dispatch calls a month, along with 25,000 to 30,000 other calls monthly.

One of the designers of the mobile data system was in Thomasville Thursday to meet with the E-911 User Board.

Chip Hughes and seven other law enforcement officers designed the program. Hughes helped implement a mobile data system for the North Carolina State Highway Patrol.

A retired North Carolina state trooper, Hughes said the system reduces radio traffic by 70 to 75 percent.

"You can activate an emergency system by the touch of a laptop," he told board members.

A record is available of everything an officer submits to the system.

The system provides web access to Amber alerts, weather reports and to other law enforcement websites.

Hughes explained that if an officer stops someone for a traffic violation, the system will let him know the same person was stopped the night before and fought with cops.

If an officer is en route to a domestic situation, the system will inform him that while he was on vacation the previous week, one of his colleagues responded to domestic violence at the same address.

Noting that the system provides totally silent dispatch, Huckstep said the concept is not only about TPD, but about the emergency medical service, sheriff's department and city and county fire departments.

"We just happen to be the first ones out of the gate doing this," the chief told fellow User Board members.

"Things can be tailored to other departments' needs," Hughes interjected.

A section of the computer screen is sensitive to a drivers license barcode and magnetic strip. A license check is conducted, based on data read, and needed information is relayed verbally via computer to the officer while a traffic stop is under way.

Hughes, director of Mobile Enabled Systems and Homeland Security Initiatives for InterAct Public Safety Systems in New Bern, N.C., said TPD is ahead of many police departments nationwide.

Huckstep said the technology has been available for decades, but it now is within reach of many more law enforcement agencies.

Mel Kelly, director of Thomas County Emergency Medical Service, asked if the system would show the location of ambulances. Huckstep said it would as long as the ambulance has radio communication with Thomas County dispatch.

The chief told User Board members other local agencies might not be able to outfit all vehicles with the system, but they might consider a terminal in a supervisor's vehicle and adding others as funding became available.