An officer is tailing a car matching the description of a Monte Carlo stolen from New Jersey.

He glances at his police cruiser's laptop to type in the license plate to be run through the National Crime Information Center database. He looks up at the vehicle he is following. He looks back to read the laptop screen to see if it is stolen. In that second, the suspect turns down an alley and out of sight.

Bensalem police have new software for those laptops that they believe will reduce those kinds of problems.

"[Virtual Partner] allows the officer to keep his eyes on what he is doing," Officer Michael Konopka said. "He no longer has to keep looking back and forth."

While the officer still must type the information into the computer - "the easiest part," according to Konopka - once the information is in, the new software uses a human voice to "talk" to the officer.

"NCIC clear, PFA clear, CLEAN clear, license valid," a woman's voice responds. When something isn't right, the laptop will "ping" and say something like, "Tag not found, possible stolen car out of New Jersey." PFA stands for Protection From Abuse order and CLEAN refers to Commonwealth Law Enforcement Assistance Network, a Pennsylvania State Police database.

The new software can save time and prevent injuries because the voice responses replace seconds the officer would use glancing down at the screen ciphering through several paragraphs worth of information.

Another feature that Bensalem officers asked for and the company provided was a mute feature. Bensalem officers were concerned that a suspect might be standing within hearing range of the audible alerts. Now officers can press a key that mutes the voice until the officer touches the screen again.

The Virtual Partner software is produced by Advanced Public Safety of Deerfield, Fla., a company founded by auxiliary Delray Beach police Officer Jeff Rubenstein. According to the company's Web site, www.aps.us, the software is simply installed into each laptop without the need for changing any existing software.

Konopka said it takes about five minutes to install the program. So far he has 11 cars on the road with the software and hopes to have it in all Bensalem police cars by the end of the month.

"The program really improves the safety of our officers out on the street," Konopka said.

Matt Coughlin can be reached at 215-949-4172 or mcoughlin@phillyBurbs.com.