Cumbria Constabulary is issuing 4G smartphones to all frontline officers and some other staff. The force says that this will assist with policing duties and enable officers to be more visible in the community.
Officers will use the smartphones running on EE’s 4G network as part of their daily duties, replacing the pocket notebook. The 4G smartphones come with specialised policing apps and services to cut administration, say police. The force has put about £1.8m into mobile and digital working. The investment is supported by the Police & Crime Commissioner Richard Rhodes and the Home Office Innovation Fund. This will save the equivalent of £3.3m over three years, helping to put officers back out into the street, according to the authorities.
Chief Superintendent Steve Johnson said: “Cumbria Constabulary polices one of the largest geographical areas in England and Wales, which covers difficult terrain. As a result, call and data coverage and communication quality are important factors in mobilising the workforce in order to increase the amount of time officers are able to spend in the community, keeping people safe and dealing with crime. EE is providing excellent coverage for calls and data in Cumbria and its 4G coverage offers faster speeds and greater quality. The increased mobilisation of our officers involves the completion of documents outside police stations. The EE data super-bundle provides value for money for Cumbria Constabulary, as all officers and staff are able to utilise the data with no wastage and no extra monthly costs.”
The Cumbria force is using EE’s Super Bundle tariffs, which offer shared business and public sector data bundles ranging from 50 terabytes to 1 petabyte. Ettienne Brandt, Director of Corporate & Public Sector at EE, said: “Organisations in the public sector and emergency services are increasingly being called on to do more, and connected devices such as tablets and smartphones running on our 4G network can provide a real boost to productivity. Cumbria Constabulary’s innovative use of 4G smartphones and EE 4G to replace the traditional police notepad is not only saving the force money, but it is also helping them spend more time making a difference to the community.”
EE says that it’s putting £1.5bn in its network over the next three years, with a particular focus on rural parts of the UK. In January 2015, it launched a new micro network technology in Cumbria to provide voice, as well as 3G and 4G data services to remote areas with no need for broadband or cables. EE promises double speed 4G will reach 90pc of the population by 2017, with high capacity 4G+ enabled in 20 of the busiest UK cities by 2017.
