The New York Police Department is one of the more future-proof law-enforcing organizations in the country, and their tech game is keeping up with the times.
The police force makes use of more than 5,500 smartphones, which the officers claim are helping them to solve crimes faster. One internal statistic shows that the response time accelerated by 12 percent after the handset handout.
Choosing Microsoft's ecosystem was far from a random act, either. The department underlines that Windows Mobile overpasses Android or iOS because of its security and user friendliness, and it looks forward to upgrading the mobile OS to Windows 10 Mobile.
This should enable police officers to tap into new features, such as two-way digital dispatch and tapping into the city's slew of surveillance cameras.
At the moment, the NYPD uses Lumia 830 and Lumia 640 XL phones, which give officers a number of supported features and apps to help them enforce law and order.
911 Call
Distress calls can be received by NYPD field agents right away, without waiting a read report from the dispatchers.
Search Function
The app enables officers to use their smartphones to peruse databases containing names, license plates, police records, warrants or any other details.
Crime Information Center
Officers can quickly look at this bulletin board that contains safety alerts, information on missing persons and fugitives.
Messaging
Police messages contain sensitive information such as assignments, rankings, location or precinct.
Should an officer needs to, he can send messages to a specific, geo-fenced location. The Force used the feature in events such as the Chelsea bombing near 23rd Street earlier this year.
DD5
The system is also known as the Case Management System, meaning that detectives can use the digital notepad to take complaint follow-ups.
Forms
The app helps cops to get some paperwork done while in the streets, such as filing aiding reports, accident reports and domestic violence reports.
NYPD U
The app allows officers to take quizzes and look at slideshows on their phones, or watch sensitivity training videos while on the move. It also updates them to the latest department policies in real-time.
Jessica Tisch, the department's deputy commissioner for IT explains that more than a year of work was put into developing a platform, creating orderly databases and handing devices to officers.
"Now that we have that platform, and it is 36,000 officers strong, we plan to continue to build on it," she says.
Having individual phones for each police officer makes it easy for crime victims to contact them, and builds community trust. What is more, Windows 10 Mobile greatly benefits from the Continuum feature of the OS, which could make the NYPD an even more efficient police force.
