Metro

Cops use GPS to find unseenic route in SI

Even cops sometimes need a little direction.

The NYPD has begun using satellite-guided GPS systems to help officers navigate their way around Staten Island, which is notorious for its dead ends and unmapped streets.

Since July, the NYPD has been outfitting all patrol vehicles in the borough with Garmin GPS systems, and it immediately paid off, improving response times to crime scenes, police officials said.

“Geography is our biggest problem in responding. It’s very hilly, and there are new developments and wooded areas and mapped streets that don’t exist,” said Assistant Chief Stephen Paragallo, the borough’s top cop.

“Some sections are suburban, others are rural. It runs the gamut,” he explained.

The introduction of the GPS systems have shaved more than two minutes off police response times, bringing Staten Island in line with the citywide police response time, which is an average of seven minutes, 29 seconds, Paragallo said.

That’s quite an accomplishment, considering a single precinct in Staten Island covers a geographical area that, if it were elsewhere in the city, would be overseen by as many as five precincts, he explained.

murray.weiss@nypost.com