Media: Guardian discusses Police PDA Initiative

North Wales Police is one force pioneering the issue of PDAs permanently connected to the force's main IT systems to officers on the beat.

The Guardian points out that over the years, forces have built up an individual mix of legacy systems, few of which communicate, so that officers spend large amounts of their day re-keying data between different systems.

As part of an IT strategy that involves replacing about 30 legacy systems, North Wales Police 'has issued PDAs to about 50 officers. The plan is to issue 1,000 over the next three years to its 1,500 officers. Others will have tablet PCs. The device will depend on the job, says Mike Hughes, project manager.'

The piece goes on to look at the technical, cultural and practical problems to solve in deploying them. However, the claim is that, already, the system is saving an officer 15 minutes to an hour on every shift...

Associated Link: Guardian: Inspector gadget

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