Calling all cars.

Changes are under way that should dramatically improve the Monroe County Sheriff's Office's ability to track and locate its patrol cars -- but the new technology won't be available for a few months.

Sheriff Bob Peryam is planning to update all cruisers with new tracking technology to work in conjunction with their in-car laptops, which will give dispatchers "real time" tracking information for every working deputy.

Peryam has been working on the upgrades since he became sheriff in January 2009, but the issue moved to the forefront after the June death of Deputy Melissa Powers, who crashed while searching for a sergeant who wasn't responding to radio calls.

"Anytime something tragic like this happens, we always look at what the heck we can do to prevent this from happening again," Peryam said. "There was a breakdown with the current GPS system and we think the [new technology] is a far more reliable way for us to track deputies."

Patrol car computers currently use a satellite unit that plugs into laptop USB ports. The satellite system was installed in all cars in 2002 for free as part of the core computer system, though the Sheriff's Office paid $12,000 to have the wiring and antennas installed, Peryam said. A portion of that wiring cost was offset, but not all, by drug forfeiture money, he added.

That satellite system offered the best technological bang for the taxpayers' buck at the time, but it isn't perfect, Peryam said.

"Our current system can be unplugged either on purpose or accidently by deputies, or become loose," Peryam said. "And it operates about 60 seconds behind real time, so if I'm at Mile Marker 6, the dispatchers are looking at information that relays where I was 60 seconds ago."

That margin can be exponentially inaccurate, for instance, if a deputy is traveling fast, Peryam added.

About a year ago, Peryam dropped the previous computer Internet provider in favor of Verizon, and with that contract came the new option of using a tracking system that is integrated with an air card. The cards, which slide into a laptop's or cell phone's internal slot, provides the user with wireless Internet access.

"The new system will go through those internal cards and the locater technology will be instant," Peryam said. "It will be integrated with the computer network, so it's a smart buy for us. It's obviously more accurate. The technology in our current system is almost nine years old."

Air cards cost about $16 a month and the Sheriff's Office will be using about 130 of them. The new Verizon system will cost about $2,080 a month, but Peryam said that cost would be paid anyway for the Internet access, so he views the locater technology as a huge bonus at a time when the county budget is strained.

"We already bought and paid for the cards, so this is a cheap upgrade," Peryam said.

The new air cards will not be available until October or November, as Verizon is still working out the bugs, Peryam said.

"This is always the case with technology," Peryam said. "It's updating and improving and we have to change with it."

The tracking system is not unlike, but somewhat different from, the Key West Police Department's version.

Key West police cars are equipped with Panasonic Toughbook laptops, which have internal Automated Vehicle Locater satellite systems, said Chief Donie Lee. The cars were equipped with that system in February 2009.

It cost $47,000, an initial startup cost covered by federal grant money, but Key West taxpayers pay about $6,500 a month in Internet connective fees to run the whole police network, of which the vehicle locator technology is but one part, Lee said.

The system allows dispatchers to track vehicles in real time, as well as their speed, Lee said.

"How similar our system is with what the Sheriff's Office is installing, I don't know for sure," Lee said. "There's all kinds of technology out there, but so far we're happy with the system we have right now."

alinhardt@keysnews.com