Motorola Solutions to equip Victoria Police with 10K iPhones, iPads in A$50M deal

Posted:
in iPhone
Motorola Solutions has signed a deal with the police in Victoria, Australia, which will provide 10,000 frontline officers with access to iPhones and iPads, in order to provide real-time information to officers and help improve their productivity.




In the A$50 million ($37.9 million) deal, Motorola Solutions leads a consortium of technology providers to equip the police with iOS devices for a minimum of 5 years, extendable to 11 years, reports The Australian. Motorola will handle the management architecture for the iOS devices, with telecommunications firm Optus providing network coverage, and CompNow supplying the iPhones and iPads themselves, as well as dealing with repairs.

It is believed the plan will help increase the situational awareness and safety for frontline officers, as well as helping the manage their daily work tasks, and minimizing instances of duplicate data being entered in reports. In important situations, vital information can be shared between frontline personnel and control rooms using the system.

As a byproduct, the scheme will also help Victoria Police offload some of the lower-priority traffic from its radio network, keeping it clearer for essential emergency communications.




Core to the platform is mPol, an application created by the Motorola Solutions-owned Gridstone to help police perform administrative duties, and to improve collaboration between team members. The app is already being used by Queensland Police, but it will be tailored to the needs of the Victoria Police before it is rolled out to officers.

Motorola Solutions vice president and managing director Steve Crutchfield claims the deal will "provide Victoria Police with a reliable mobility solution and services to enable frontline officers to access core operational applications from mobile devices. We will provide Victoria Police with a mobility managed service that is highly secure, reliable, and helps to free up more time for frontline police to work in their communities where they are needed most."

The $50 million deal is part of Victoria Police's Capability Plan 2016-2025, a scheme that aims to make the police more responsive with increased communication and connectedness between all involved. The contract is being funded by the Mobile Technology Project, an Andrews Labor Government initiative to invest A$227 million ($172 million) into police technology.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 6
    tundraboytundraboy Posts: 1,885member
    I suppose Motorola Solutions has no corporate connection to Motorola, the android phone maker.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 6
    plovellplovell Posts: 824member
    tundraboy said:
    I suppose Motorola Solutions has no corporate connection to Motorola, the android phone maker.
    Maybe it does, but realized they needed to offer a better solution :)
    caliwatto_cobraRacerhomieX
  • Reply 3 of 6
    plovell said:
    tundraboy said:
    I suppose Motorola Solutions has no corporate connection to Motorola, the android phone maker.
    Maybe it does, but realized they needed to offer a better solution :)
    The Australian government has a pretty strict set of baseline requirements for mobile device security. At the security classification a police network operates at, only iOS has been validated by Australian Signals Directorate as a mobile device operating system (and it has been since 2011). Android has not yet been able to get through their testing of their requirements at that classification (although presumably one day it may).

    It's therefore easier for the police to use iOS, as they can just take an evaluated configuration and adjust it to their requirements, rather than start from scratch & need to accept a lot of additional risk themselves .

    Northern Territory, Queensland and New Zealand police are using this or a similar systems on iOS. It will be interesting to see if Motorola take this globally, or it stays just as an Australian - NZ market solution for them 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 6
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    This is a logical move and smart that it offloads work from radios.

    Motorola though, how times have changed. 
    watto_cobraRacerhomieX
  • Reply 5 of 6
    RacerhomieXRacerhomieX Posts: 95unconfirmed, member
    Hope their Productivity increases a lot. Btw what iPhones & iPads are they getting ? Wouldn't iPod 6th Gens be cheaper with a Portable Router?
  • Reply 6 of 6
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member

    plovell said:
    tundraboy said:
    I suppose Motorola Solutions has no corporate connection to Motorola, the android phone maker.
    Maybe it does, but realized they needed to offer a better solution :)
    Did you forget that Motorola Mobility was sold to Lenovo? 
Sign In or Register to comment.