An innovative public safety program in Kenosha County could lead to a better-connected Wisconsin, according to a story in today’s Kenosha News. Last week, officials unveiled a pilot program in which squad cars serve as mobile cell phone towers. Lt. Paul Falduto of the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department detailed the benefits of the system:

Specific uses demonstrated included the ability of an officer to highlight an area on a computerized map of the county and post a “geomessage” that will show up on the computer screen of every squad car that enters that area. It is an application that can be helpful during an Amber Alert, for example, Falduto said.

Falduto said this system would have been helpful during a strong storm at Country Thunder. So many people were using their cell phones it was blocking communication. An outfitted squad car could have provided a communication relay to another tower.

In addition to the system’s public safety value, the program could also potentially improve high-speed internet access in the county:

While the system is only being proposed for public safety use, Falduto said the infrastructure could easily be upgraded to 5.8 GHz to provide public broadband.

The estimated cost to get the system up and running is about $1.5 million, according to the story, which could be available through federal grants. Sounds like a very interesting idea to improve both the safety and connectedness of Kenosha County.