BlackBerrys for coppers: UK law enforcement to smarten up in 2010

Police men and women of Blighty are about to step into the 21st century, albeit a decade late, with a new weapon in the fight against boredom on the beat. The BBC reports that smartphones will become standard issue throughout the Queen's realm by March 2010, as a result of successful trials carried out in 30 constabularies through this year. Improved "operational efficiency" and reduced bureaucracy are argued as the key benefits, with a solid 30 minutes less time being spent in police stations each day. And we're absolutely positive that extra half hour will go toward increased "visibility in the community" and not checking out friends' Facebook status updates. No, really!

Read -- BBC report
Read -- Bedfordshire case study

[ScottishDan Posted Oct 16th 2009 5:10PM]

@arkweld

Haha so true - up here in Edinburgh we don't have police any more, they've all been replaced by community support officers :P

[ScottishDan Posted Oct 16th 2009 5:12PM]

Damn commenting system

[hikanae Posted Oct 16th 2009 8:47PM]

So how exactly is this going to help them when they arrive on a crime scene and the scene has a cellphone frequency blocker?