You are in:
- EDITORIAL CONTENT » News » News
BlackBerry roll out for Thames Valley Police
Thames Valley Police force is to equip 1,100 police officers and Police Community Support Officers with BlackBerry smartphones, under a scheme funded by the Home Office and the National Policing Improvement Agency.
Keith Gough, mobile information project manager at Thames Valley Police said, “Deploying BlackBerry is about enabling our front-line officers to police smarter, not harder. Being able to access police computer systems via BlackBerry smartphones means less time spent travelling between stations as officers no longer need to go back to the station every time they need to access information from a computer, or pick up briefing information for a shift. Officers will also be better informed with up-to-the-minute information which will significantly improve their service to local communities”
An Activity Based Costing survey carried out by the force in July 2006 showed that, on average, PCSOs spent over 30 per cent of their time in a station undertaking administration. A pilot showed that officers with mobile devices were able to reduce this time in the station and increase time spent servicing their community during each shift.
Graham Baker, strategic account manager at RIM added, “We are very proud to be working with Thames Valley Police on this roll-out. At present over 50 per cent of UK police forces have adopted the BlackBerry solution and we continuing to work with others to demonstrate the great benefits that BlackBerry smartphones can offer”.
