eep in the heart of Texas, the Dallas Police Department is combining pedal power and the Internet to fight crime and cover more ground. The department's bicycle teams travel 22 miles per shift and tap into centralized databases via their lightweight mobile display terminals (MDTs).

On patrol in Dallas' boulevards and back alleys, the officers can instantly verify whether property has been stolen or a suspect has a record. The officers can even send email to each other and to their squad-car colleagues on their road-tested terminals. Senior Corporal Mark Decker couldn't ride without one: "Working with the MDTs adds a whole new dimension to what we do. When the system goes down, we're riding in the dark. It sends us back to another era."