Technology is a wonderful thing that can help save money and help an operation—say, the Clanton Police Department, for example—run more efficiently.

If employees know how to use the technology, that is.

Clanton Police Chief Brian Stilwell said technology upgrades are among his most significant accomplishments. Grants have allowed the department to buy new computers, servers and software; strengthen communications with E-911; and put laptops and Internet cards into the city’s patrol cars.

Recently, the department made the important move of hiring someone who can teach all officers how to use the technology. Neil Fetner spent the week training officers on operating the new computers and software.

Just one example of what the department’s new technology will allow it to do: laptops in patrol cars can record the vehicle’s location, speed and other data supervisors can use to monitor patrols.

Criminals get smarter every day; we’re glad to see that law enforcement officers are, too.