Baltimore will become one of the first agenices to issue patrol officers BlackBerry's for work purposes. The officers will be able to use the device to check warrants, criminal histories and suspect photos and become overall more efficent. The city will be using some of its $5.3 million of federal stimulus to purchase the 2,000 "Pocket Cops". Police Commissioner Frederick Bealefield II said:
"In the last 15 years in domestic law enforcement, we've trained cops around their vehicle. We've made their vehicle their mobile office. Except that now, they don't leave the office," Bealefeld said. "This Pocket Cop will help move them away from that car and break that tether."Â
In early tests, officers using a BlackBerry have made twice as many arrests over a 3-month period than those equipped only with radios and laptops. No word of what exact devices the officers are using however. What are you throughts? Drop a comment and let us know. Thanks to everyone that sent this in!
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97 comments
It has been tested a couple of years ago in England, they had the same positive result. officers could spend more time on the street and less in the office.
Now the shoe's on the other foot!
This idea is excellent, i hope more states implement this new resource...
Alejandro
Trust me, I'm spy!
i'd out Blackberry them with a Blackberry Bold, 8900 or Tour XD
I doubt having a better BlackBerry would help criminals get away unless they had the PINs of every cop in the city that was on patrol...
i was being sarcastic............
Love the idea. If it is used right, it can be integrated into reports and photo exchanges to supervisors and so on. It would save on costs and create a truly efficient system. I guess it's up to the powers that be to ensure the effective use of the tool. If it is severly monitored/tampered with it may be a disabling tool.
I am actually shocked that this hadn't happened prior to this... i mean, seriously. Cost effective isn't it??
It's going to take more than a bunch of BlackBerrys to fix the crime problem in that city. I hope this initiative has a positive impact, Baltimore needs it.
Having lived in Baltimore my whole life, I certainly didn't expect to see this on the front page of CrackBerry. It hink it's a cool idea.
Anyone know what software package they are using to do this?
Works great. Good tool for officers in the field. We've got about 200 berries in service.
Are you serious? How Much, How Much?
WE ARE ARE DEBTOR NATION....How on earth can a city afford to give each and every officer a blackberry? Come on...Get serious.
So now we give our "Gods"
New Cars
New IPods
New Phones
& New Tasers to put your children in place with
I know right, come to think of it, how can we afford to give every officer, guns too! i mean its a reccession, a batton and and a 4 oz can of generic (not name brand) mase should be good enough.
My department hasn't seen a new car since 2008. And they're cut from the 2010 budget, too.
Things are lean in Law Enforcement, too, thank you very much.
Thanks for being so kind to "give" us Tasers to keep your kids inline, since you never did. It's appreciated.
Damn... Now they are gonna be able to catch me, guess I'd better lay low
You might wanna get a cop radar app on your BB.
its floating around here somewhere :)
Being from Baltimore, any tool to clean the city up is worth having!!!
Now the cops will be texting, emailing and BBM while driving too!
I would really be freaked out if I got pulled over then got a PIN that said.... Please step out of the car. ;)
I would laugh in the cops face...
Now that is comedy, I just spit out my coffee when I read this..lol
I am using its free version..excellant!!! you can surprise youyr friend. Just translate copy and send.
I am willing to get a pro copy free.
I'm jealous!! I work for a small department and have been dropping hints to my chief for quiet some time. We are going to be changing providers soon so lets all pray we get blackberrys too! Congrats Baltimore PD.
Officers in Carmel, IN all have Blackberry's and have had for quite sometime. Most of the agencies in the north suburbs of Indianapolis have BB's.
Do you think they have trapster?
I know of a department in Arizona that has been using BB 8350i's since the phone has been released. So these aren't the first police officers to have been issued BB's.
BlackBerrys the plural of BlackBerry, not BlackBerry's? Just wondering.
I was born and raised in Baltimore (county, not city) but I spent a lot of time in the city, and my personal opinion is that in theory this is excellent, but in reality it's not going to make much of a difference unless you get rid of the crooked cops who are telling all of the dealers when the busts are going to happen or telling the kids where the drunk driving check points are going to be or even telling the kids which stores won't card.
Now, in fairness, I haven't been back to Baltimore since I left 7 years ago so things COULD have changed, but somehow I doubt it's gotten any better.
I love my hometown don't get me wrong, but just like all politics you have your good and you have your bad and the bad just sticks out more than the good...
Tracy
We have been doing this in Norfolk Va for almost 2 years now with Blackberrys.
Yes - thank you. not sure why most folks want to use the plural additive instead of the possessive.
Kinda like it's and its. Common grammar issues. No biggie in the grand scheme of things I suppose, but still...
WHO GIVES A SHIT ITS A PHONE FOR CHRIST SAKE GET OVER YOUR PRETENCIOUS SELF.....SPELL CHECK THAT!!!
Grate come back...lmao
an apple pie? Spelling is spelling. The spelling and grammar on this board (and all over the web) are atrocious. The English language is dead.
I work for a private security company and we have been offering a piece of specialty equipment that is Windows Mobile based. It sounds like the "Pocket Cop" is going to be able to do everything that our equipment does and I know every customer that has one of our guards using one is never disappointed. For a city that has the 4th highest violent crime rate, anything to keep the ball rolling can't hurt.
There should be no apostrophe. These are Blackberrys, not Blackberry's. Here are 5 Blackberrys. My Blackberry's key is broken. Hope this helps.
I respect this new idea...and with BBM they may be able to talk in a walkie talkie type of way...being able to quickly set your status to the location of a crime scene or anything similar is a good jump for law enforcement. They could use maps to help navigate to different areas on foot as well. As lone as they are using a good BB with an updated OS they should be well off...they have the perfect platform to do this on...
"Blackberry's" shouldn't have the apostrophe. It's pleural, not possessive.
Sorry for being a grammar nazi, but Blackberry users are supposed to be more intelligent.
I LIVE IN EFFING BALTIMORE AND WE CANT EVEN GET AN OFFICER FOR THE SIMPLEST OF THINGS. THEY NEED TO SPEND MORE TIME ON POST THE TWEETING WHAT DONUTS THEY GOT AT ROYAL FARMS!!!! ONE MORE RESON DIXON NEEDS TO GO!
A dude is someone who lives on a ranch LOL....
(come'on guys, you had to have seen the video of the baltimore cop!)
IN ALL FAIRNESS THE TWEETS THE INFORMATION OFFICE SENDS ARE QUITE HELPFUL
PocketCop is developed and produced by the same company that makes the software for our MDTs (laptops) in our patrol cars, which allows us to run warrants checks and pull driver license photos. If set up and used correctly, this would be a welcome addition to any police officer's tool belt.
Baltimore is not the first, County Sheriff's department where I live (upstate NY) issued them to thier deuputys a year or two ago.
Hopefully they will go with a network that can support their needs. Imagine being able to view street level web cams while on patrol or responding to calls in the area of a camera.
This is a great idea and i hope it catches on across the ocuntry
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
PocketCop requires InfoServerTM, BIO-key’s mobile communications server platform (version 5.0 or later) connected to a public wireless network.
PocketCop is optimized for the BlackBerry 8830 smartphone on RIM OS v4.3 and operates on BlackBerry 87xx, 72xx and 71xx series devices running RIM OS v4.1 and v4.2.
PocketCop operates on a variety of devices running Windows Mobile OS v5.0 and v6.0, including the Samsung BlackJack and Motorola Q smartphones. Please check with us or your preferred carrier for product availability on other platforms.
Officers with CrackBerry's?!? Those degenerates are screwed!! :)
Maybe they will be going the Nextel route? It would make sense...
As a current resident of the city I really think the money could have been used more effectively. A lot of cops here are corrupt, (Yesterday a cop was arrested in a sting after holding up an undercover cop posing as a drug dealer on a street corner for $70. Later three bags of cocaine were found in his locker) it isn't a rare occurrence to find a dirty cop. Giving the police a new tool would be great but while they are cutting hours and in the middle of a making a new contract with the city police union it isn't the right time. The Mayor Dixon has been indicted so many times I've lost count and the state of the rest of Baltimore politics is not any better. I can't remember exactly how many police commissioners there have been but that office is a rotating door.
Don't mistake my statement for hating all police, there are many good cops here but there are many inept ones who bring the unsolved homicide rate sky high and their inability to protect the few witnesses that do come forward is destroying the city.