London's Metropolitan Police will proceed with the mass procurement of iPad mini devices with which it will equip police officers patrolling the British capital.
The Metropolitan Police announced that the £200 million, three-year programme will see up to 15,000 officers equipped with Apple tablets . The first phase of the programme will see 600 devices supplied to police stations in Hammersmith and Fulham, London.
The iPads to be supplied to the London police will come with pre-installed apps that will allow officers to access case files and witness statements. They will also provide location-based information about gang members or recent crime victims, along with directions to the nearest hospitals with emergency departments.
According to a report by the Financial Times, the Metropolitan Police estimates that with this program it will be able to achieve 30% cuts in the IT budget, compared to today. At the same time, there is concern about whether the goals will be achieved, since in 2012, in a similar program to supply 40,000 “smart” mobile phones, the benefits reached 600,000 pounds, an amount much smaller than the savings of 125 million pounds in the original planning.
On the contrary, the defenders of the program believe that the benefits of the program should include the ability to "predict" crimes, based on the statistical data provided by the pre-installed applications. An indicative example is the reference to a similar program implemented in Los Angeles, United States, where a 12% reduction in burglaries was observed in the implementation areas, while in areas where older tactics were applied there was an increase of 0.5%.
In any case, using the iPad as a means of "enforcing" the law is something completely new. Whether the experiment will be successful, only time and statistics will tell.
Source: naftemporiki.gr
Image: EPA/FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA
