ABSTRACT

Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of police officers’ deaths in the line of duty. Previous studies have found that officer distraction caused by in-vehicle technologies such as the mobile computer terminal (MCT) is one of the main causes of these crashes. The objective of this study was to evaluate the usability issues of existing MCTs implemented in police vehicles across the U.S. and to provide recommendations to improve future technologies. Two focus group meetings were conducted with police officers from different departments. The discussion was analyzed based on Molich and Nielsen’s usability principles and using a directed content analysis approach. The most frequently mentioned usability issues were related to the inappropriate presentation of information on the MCT and the lack of interface consistency and adaptability. The provided recommendations can be beneficial in improving police in-vehicle technology design and safety of officers in police operations.

摘要

车祸是警察在执行任务时死亡的主要原因。之前的研究发现，由移动计算机终端（MCT）等车载技术引起的人员分心是这些事故的主要原因之一。本研究的目的是评估在美国各地警车中实施的现有 MCT 的可用性问题，并提供改进未来技术的建议。与来自不同部门的警务人员进行了两次焦点小组会议。基于 Molich 和 Nielsen 的可用性原则并使用定向内容分析方法对讨论进行了分析。最常提到的可用性问题与 MCT 上的信息呈现不当以及界面一致性和适应性的缺乏有关。