South Yorks police get BlackBerry access to records

Vodafone service also allows paperwork completion on the go

10 August 2009 12:31 GMT / By Duncan Geere

South Yorkshire Police will soon be able to spend that little bit less time in the office, and that little bit more "on the beat", with a new application that Vodafone and Airpoint have developed for the boys in blue.

More than 600 officers will be handed a BlackBerry provided by Vodafone that imports data direct from the Police National Computer into a number of forms, such as the "Stop and Account" one - where a police officer stops a member of the public to question their behaviour.

Last year, 855 working days were apparently spent on filling in these forms, which normally take an average of 5 weeks to be filed - longer if the officer makes a mistake.

Sergeant Simon Davies, Project Manager at South Yorkshire Police force, told Pocket-lint: "Enabling our officers to access key information on the move is a major step forward and we're expecting to see the community benefit from a more visible force continually patrolling the neighbourhoods".

Oh, and don't worry about the data falling into the wrong hands, either. The devices are automatically locked and password protected 15 minutes after their last use, and if it's reported missing then it can be remotely "killed".

BlackBerrys have previously been issued to other Police forces around the country, including Thames Valley Police.

Full tags

Phones, Apps, BlackBerry, Police, Vodafone, Airpoint