Usability Evaluation of Police Mobile Computer Terminals: A Focus Group Study

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.

Acknowledgments

The research was funded by a grant from North Carolina Occupational Safety and Health Education and Research Center (NC OSHERC). The opinions expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of NC OSHERC.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Farzaneh Shahini

Farzaneh Shahini received her BS degree in industrial and systems engineering from Sharif university of technology (Iran) in 2019. She is currently a PhD student at Texas A&M university (TAMU).

David Wozniak

David Wozniak is a senior undergraduate student at TAMU.

Maryam Zahabi

Maryam Zahabi is an assistant professor of industrial and systems engineering at TAMU and directs the Human–Systems Interaction Laboratory. She received her PhD in industrial and systems engineering from North Carolina State University in 2017. Dr Zahabi’s research is focused on human–computer interaction in safety-critical situations.