Spy Review

Police in North Wales have come up with a novel way of fighting crime - using Blackberrys. We know Blackberrys are wildly popular in the US as a communications device used by the public, but the idea to use it in the police force has it seems been rather successful.

North Wales Police issued the hand-held computers to each officer during this time and it has saved the department hundreds of thousands of pounds in man-hours.

The idea of introducing them was so that it would allow more officers on the beat rather than behind their desk difting through paper work. The devices would allow computerising and speeding up communication between the station and the police on the beat.

Officers in the street would have more information available while being on street such as running the force’s command and control system while having the access to all the records in the management system, thus giving officers more time in the field than behind the desks searching for the information.

Since the devices allow live communication both in sound and in image and video format, the police can be sent vital information at a moments notice as the the constable Richard Brunstrom explains “We can look at every photograph ever taken of anybody who has come into contact with the police. We have actually been able to separate twin brothers by their tattoos in a photograph on a Blackberry.”

But whenever a new system is introduced, especially one where it requires some technical know-how, there can be dangers of miscommunication and misinformation resulting due to unfamiliarity. However, one would expect there would be a substantial period of training in using them as a communication method before actually introduced live, which it seems was the case.

However, it remains to be seen how successful the devices are in both making the police more efficient in cost cutting and actually dealing with crime itself for an extended phase even though the signs are good in the short term its been live and whether other areas of the country take it up.

More on the story here.