NYC Police Cruisers Are Getting Smarter

The police cars of the not-so-distant future will do a whole lot more than just carting officers to where they need to go. These cars will be number-reading, data-gathering, computer-powered machines.

The New York Police Department (NYPD) is well on its way to making this futuristic notion into a reality, according to a report published online Thursday by the Wall Street Journal. The report describes a "smart car" prototype the department has been testing for the past year as a part of a wider initiative to leverage technology for crime fighting.