Mobile rugged tablets are being rolled out by South Australia Police (SAPOL) to frontline officers following a successful trial in the Elizabeth Local Service Area. Capitalising on the information gathered during a 12-month trial, an extensive procurement and acquisition program evaluating numerous devices was completed, leading to the selection of a tablet that best meets the needs of police.
As part of a government funding package for new technology, $7.4m was provided over five years to roll out the electronic tablets. These devices are removable, vehicle-based tablets which are replacing the current ‘fixed in-car’ computing devices. The selected devices, Panasonic Toughbooks, are already being used by Crime Scene investigators and are now being installed in SAPOL fleets, replacing the ageing in-vehicle Mobile Data Terminals (MDT).
SA POLICE NEWS
Tablet technology gives police a ‘mobile office’
“We realised we could achieve some great outcomes from this technology. We have been able to almost eliminate the need for our frontline officers to return to their stations to complete paperwork, providing them with technology where they have, in effect, a mobile office while also replacing SAPOL’s fixed ‘in-vehicle’ computing platform with a contemporary device.
“This gives us the benefits of both ‘in-vehicle’ computing and the portability to capture, retrieve and submit information in the field. It’ll be an enormous benefit to enter data into our systems without having to return to a desktop computer at a police station. There’s no doubt the technology will allow officers to access information more rapidly and overall increase the frontline capabilities of officers.”
– Superintendent Scott Allison, Manager, SA Police IS&T Innovation and Solutions Branch
SA Police will be buying about 855 tablets, with up to 680 of those to be installed in police vehicles and the remaining available for use by frontline police. The rollout of the equipment, and staff training to use the tablets, began in November 2016.
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