This Sunday, NYPD officers used their smartphones to help respond to over 25,000 911 calls; ran 18,000 searches; and viewed 1,080 flyers of missing or wanted persons. Sunday is a slow day.
Three years ago, we decided to bring mobility to the NYPD. Neither iOS nor Android phones then allowed us to cost-effectively use prior investment in custom Windows applications.
We also found that the Windows platform would be most effective at achieving our goal of securing devices for sensitive law enforcement operations.
The contract provided the phones at no cost, and let the NYPD replace them with devices of our choosing two years later, also at no cost.
We have since continually reviewed this technology. A year ago, we learned that improvements in Apple would let the NYPD responsibly and cost-effectively move to that platform. We began plans for a transition that will take effect this fall.
Our initiative is 45 percent under budget, so funds that initially covered two years of spending now look to cover to more than four.
The phones have made our cops smarter, faster and more agile in responding to 911 calls, with response times down more than 8 percent.
Whether it’s the parent whose child has gone missing, the driver who needs a copy of an accident report or a domestic-violence victim whose life may be saved by a faster response, the smartphone program has made the NYPD, already New York’s Finest, even finer.
Sure doesn’t sound like a “useless smartphone,” does it?
Jessica Tisch is the NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Information Technology.