According to RIM, the UK Police force is able to save around £112m a year by using BlackBerry smartphones.
Rory O'Neill, Senior Director of Business Marketing (EMEA) at RIM, spoke to eWeek and stated that one in six officers carry around a BlackBerry and out of the 56 police forces in the UK, 44 of them use BlackBerry technology and applications. The use of BlackBerry smartphones has increased productivity, allowing more police officers to be out in the streets instead of spending time on paperwork. It also allowed them to access or update records on the go from their BlackBerry. O'Neill said they worked close with Bedfordshire Police to work on a mobile data solution that would allow officers to access data from the Police National Computer without using up the radio network.
"There are now a staggering array of applications that enable police forces to do innovative things," said O'Neill. "The police are able to spend more time on the street, and less in the police station. We have created applications that access back-end systems that can perform administrative tasks out on the street. One of the reasons why the police work with BlackBerry is because of the security model."
RIM also cited from a study that said 85% of police officers found that the BlackBerry assisted them in doing their job while 75% that it would be a big deal if the BlackBerry devices were taken away from them.
Source: eWeek
Reader comments
BlackBerry smartphones save UK Police £112m per year
Lol, a month ago I was handed a fine for talking on the phone while driving by a blackberry equipped policewoman. Couldn't see what model it was thanks to the otterbox defender case but I would guess 9700 or Storm judging by the camera layout. I went straight to a phone shop and got myself a handsfree kit after that :)
Are you in law enforcement too? Or, are you a journo? Just can't figure out from your user name. :)
"Pull Over"
Do you get a ticket for reading that message while driving? or would you ignore it and keep going until they lay out the spike strip and fight the ticket since you never opened the message ;0)
If you hold it in your hand you get a fine, if you have it on the dash you don't, that's what they told me.
sounds like its the same here (canada). Heard of one guy who got a ticket for answering his phone long enough to say "hold on while I pull over" and put the phone down again.... he was gonna fight it but I never heard what happened
sounds like its the same here (canada). Heard of one guy who got a ticket for answering his phone long enough to say "hold on while I pull over" and put the phone down again.... he was gonna fight it but I never heard what happened
Haha I think the experssion the guys face on the left is giving "Hmmm I've just been poked on facebook" And the guy on the right is like "What does this key do"
Those officers are from Northamptonshire Police and not Bedfordshire as the article suggests. I am the lead on Mobile Data for Northamptonshire and can confirm those figures, in fact it's a lot more than that now as those figures are well over a year old. The devices and the way in which we use them are truly the way we work and provide a service to our communities :) Cheers RIM, great products!