Vertical Applications
- Public Safety
Business & Technology Issues -

There are a number of business
and technology issues in designing solutions for public safety. We
are bringing the attention of IT professionals and business
executives overseeing these initiatives to the following issues:
Business Applications to be
Automated
While officer dispatch to a
general patrol area or to the actual scene of crime and access to
police data bases were, by far, the most important applications in
late 1980s and early 1990s, other applications that are being
automated now include field record or report writing, vehicle
accident data reporting on the scene and mugshot transmission to the
police cruiser. There is enough business case for all these
applications in terms of improving officer productivity (up to 20%).
Common Infrastructure for
Police, Fire and EMS
Since funds for all three
departments common from same source of taxes (local at the municipal
- town or city level), application logic is similar and there are
significant cost savings in installing a common infrastructure, more
and more agencies are finding it efficient to pool their resources
together. In fact, MobileInfo.Com feels that there is
justification for his integration to state or provincial level. See
Ontario Government 's pilot project to try this approach. Of
course, there are a lot of jurisdictional issues when you move from
local to state level.
Extending the Automation to
officers on Foot Patrol
Now the cost of technology for
handheld devices and local wireless communication networks allow
handheld devices to be given to officers on patrol duty.
Ruggedized Device Requirements for
Public Safety Application
Public safety application requires that
the mobile devices be highly ruggedized that can withstand extreme
temperatures ranges (hot and cold), be shock-resistant and be fall-proof
from a distance of 3 to 4 feet on a concrete floor. Several vendors provide
such ruggedized devices. Go to ruggedized
end user device pages and vendors such as
Itronix, Amrel
and Xenocom.
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