Office Of The Lincoln County Sheriff   John E. Coley, Sheriff P.O. Box 367 Davenport WA 99122 (509) 725-3501 (509) 725-0575 Fax

September 07, 2005

To whom it may concern,

My name is Kelly Watkins and I am employed by the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office as the Chief Criminal Deputy. I have worked for the Sheriff’s Office going on seven years. I was first hired as a road deputy and worked uniformed patrol in the rural county. While working uniformed patrol I was approached by Marlon Schafer of Odessa Office Equipment and asked if the Sheriff’s Office would have a need for wireless internet in the patrol car. I was able to convince the administration (which wasn’t too difficult since the hardware was donated) to have the equipment installed.

I use the wireless internet all of the time to communicate via emails, look up state laws/ordinances etc. from my patrol car. In one case, I responded to a bank robbery in which the bank teller was assaulted and bound with Duct Tape. I was able to call the Sheriff’s Office from the field and have a photo montage sent to me via the wireless internet to my patrol car to see if the victim could identify the suspect that robbed and assaulted her. This was much quicker then the old method of driving back to the office and putting the montage together myself and driving back to the victim. When investigating crimes, time is of the essence and the wireless internet is priceless when it comes to time savings.

Although I have only mentioned a few times where the wireless internet was useful in my patrol car I have many other cases where it has assisted me and saved me a lot of time.

Respectfully submitted,

Kelly G. Watkins

Chief Criminal Deputy

Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office

Davenport WA