West Yorkshire Police has recoded its intelligence
system to give more than 2,500 police officers access to
information about criminal suspects via mobile
devices.
The web-based application, Streetwyse, has been deployed to
officers' mobile devices to speed up the process of getting
suspects interviewed by avoiding the need to return to a police
station to check records.
The application, a mobile version of the force's computerised
intelligence system Wyse, enables officers to search by full name,
surname, date of birth and a "sounds like" query - the best
approximation of the name.
If an individual is on the intelligence system, the application
tells the officer whether that person is potentially dangerous and
whether there are warrants out for their arrest. It also provides a
hyperlink to a full record and a colour photo of the
individual.
West Yorkshire Police's director of information systems, Paul
Friday, said, "We are talking a matter of seconds before [the
mobile-enabled system] finds the right person."
To protect the information accessible through the application,
the devices are password-enabled and configured to time out. Lost
devices can be remotely "stunned" and cleared. Sim cards can also
be remotely wiped.
Information passing to and from the handheld is encrypted, as
the force uses Research In Motion's push data system to access the
application. Intelligence on suspects is routed through Research In
Motion's network operating centre to individual Blackberry
devices.
Police officers also have access to the Police National
Computer, which holds records on everyone with a criminal
conviction in the UK, through their Blackberry devices. West
Yorkshire Police has the largest deployment of mobile devices with
access to the PNC in the UK.
The force estimated that its officers would spend a total of
44,000 more hours on the beat this year because they have the
mobile devices.