Using hand-held computers and software developed by B-Three Solutions, Pittsburgh’s building inspectors will be moving out of their central office and working from offices in the city’s six neighborhood police stations. A pilot version of this plan began March 17 at the Zone 5 police station on Washington Boulevard. The Bureau of Building Inspections (BBI) intends to scale up the program as the year goes along.
In a March 17 press release, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl explained, “The purpose of this initiative is two-fold: to increase public safety by creating a direct line of communication between the Police Bureau and BBI, and to provide the community with better access to BBI personnel. The Zone 5 neighborhood BBI office will make this neighborhood cleaner and safer and help our police prevent crime.”
In September 2008, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl demonstrated the new technology at a media event in Bloomfield. Calling the City’s 311 Response Line, the Mayor reported an apparent violation. Within seconds, the complaint appeared on the BBI inspector’s handheld device. From the field, the inspector could then check on the violation, retrieve ownership information from the City’s property database, and transmit a completed report back to BBI headquarters. This mobile workforce solution from B-Three cuts the processing time on violations from four days to one.
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