Western Australia Police can now use CarPlay to respond to emergencies

AppleInsider · April 4, 2022 12:42PM

Apple's CarPlay is being used for an unusual purpose, with Motorola Solutions and Western Australia Police creating an app for law enforcement that takes advantage of the in-vehicle display.

CarPlay is typically used by apps for audio playback management and displaying a map for navigation, among other uses, but not usually for work-related tasks. In a new mobile application produced between Motorola Solutions and the WA Police, Apple's in-car platform is being used to help police officers do their jobs.

OneForce Core is based on Motorola Solutions' PSCore public safety mobile application, an app for task management intended for essential services such as the police. Announced by Motorola on Friday, the CarPlay integration of OneForce Core cuts down on the need for an officer to look at an iPhone or iPad while in a vehicle.

Instead, the app displays essential information that an officer may need while driving in the car's built-in display, such as locations of incidents that they may need to attend. By using CarPlay, the app provides enough details to the officer while they are driving, without overwhelming them with other distracting information, and without needing any extra equipment.

While behind the wheel, officers can still interact with the app via CarPlay, by touching the screen or by taking advantage of verbal commands via Siri.

PSCore is already being used to help the WA Police move to digitally managing traffic infringement notices, with the CarPlay addition extending the app to further assist the more than 5,000 frontline officers.

"When police officers respond to an incident they need accurate and relevant information to inform their decisions and keep themselves and community members safe," said WA Police Deputy Commissioner Col Blanch. "Since deploying OneForce Core, our officers have been better informed with access to critical information wherever they are."

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TheObannonFile · April 4, 2022 1:07PM

When I see articles like this, I realize how many assumptions I make. I assumed this was already happening at large. Adoption of things like CarPlay and USB-C at large has been painfully slow.

command_f · April 4, 2022 3:46PM

Security of information tends to be a drag on such systems. Commercial comms, like iPhones, are often unacceptable because their security, though likely very good, cannot be validated by the appropriate regulators. Given privacy laws and respect for individuals' data, this is understandable.

If you want an example of how use of commercial comms can go wrong, look at the Russian army in Ukraine.

macgui · April 4, 2022 4:22PM

TheObannonFile said:

When I see articles like this, I realize how many assumptions I make. I assumed this was already happening at large. Adoption of things like CarPlay and USB-C at large has been painfully slow.

I can't fathom any reason why someone would reasonably assume police were using CarPlay to provide information regarding calls for service, not only at large, but at all.

It's innovative on the part of the WAP, and maybe other law enforcement agencies have done this, but at large? Hardly. I suspect an analysis of law enforcement world wide would find very few agencies with CarPlay in their enforcement vehicles. Every year more vehicles include CarPlay in their package options, some may even make it standard equipment. But most police agencies don't have the budget for that.

bsbeamer · April 4, 2022 5:03PM

Apple needs to allow a CarPlay-like mode to be enabled or activated to run on iPhone directly. Many vehicles (even recent ones) only support BT audio and would cut down on a lot of the fiddling that unfortunately still happens while driving.

StrangeDays · April 4, 2022 7:50PM

command_f said:

Security of information tends to be a drag on such systems. Commercial comms, like iPhones, are often unacceptable because their security, though likely very good, cannot be validated by the appropriate regulators. Given privacy laws and respect for individuals' data, this is understandable.

If you want an example of how use of commercial comms can go wrong, look at the Russian army in Ukraine.

My major city issues iPhones to POs, replacing the Blackberrys they used to use. It's fine. (They aren't worried about missile strikes)

StrangeDays · April 4, 2022 7:52PM

bsbeamer said:

Apple needs to allow a CarPlay-like mode to be enabled or activated to run on iPhone directly. Many vehicles (even recent ones) only support BT audio and would cut down on a lot of the fiddling that unfortunately still happens while driving.

Huh? CarPlay already runs on the iPhone directly -- it's run off the phone and uses the head unit as an external touch-enabled monitor.

entropys · April 4, 2022 8:54PM

There ar so few roads in WA overall I expect carplay is quite good. It certainly worked flawlessly last year when I was there for a funeral.
anyway, several police services in Australia are apple shops, carrying iPad minis as part of their belt gear and all using iPhones.

FileMakerFeller · April 5, 2022 12:57AM

macgui said:

TheObannonFile said:

When I see articles like this, I realize how many assumptions I make. I assumed this was already happening at large. Adoption of things like CarPlay and USB-C at large has been painfully slow.

I can't fathom any reason why someone would reasonably assume police were using CarPlay to provide information regarding calls for service, not only at large, but at all.

It's innovative on the part of the WAP, and maybe other law enforcement agencies have done this, but at large? Hardly. I suspect an analysis of law enforcement world wide would find very few agencies with CarPlay in their enforcement vehicles. Every year more vehicles include CarPlay in their package options, some may even make it standard equipment. But most police agencies don't have the budget for that.

Twenty-some years ago there was a police chief on a FileMaker Developer mailing list that was so sick of the system foisted on his officers that he was building his own. The old system was text-based and slow; he managed to build a new one in less than 12 months that included visual data and was deployed on laptops fixed to the car structure that allowed for operation while parked. It was game-changing. Rather than relying on vague descriptions of suspected perpetrators this system could provide photographs and arrest history and special notes from previous encounters, meaning that officers were no longer bailing up citizens who might in some way match the BOLO (an approach that was, IIRC, about 10% accurate overall) but instead were spending their time "actually chasing criminals" and achieving ~85% correct matches. This led to improved community relations and lower stress levels for police officers, and was heralded for demonstrating the capabilities of the police force to adapt "new technology" to improve operations.

But what it really showed, in hindsight, is that the systemic process is one of inadequate planning where the end users have to go to heroic lengths to overcome the bureaucratic inefficiency that seems to infest large organisations. I had assumed that the project had continued to grow, but what little I can find online now suggests that it hasn't expanded beyond its initial deployment area.

With an extra few decades of software development under my belt, I'm not really surprised, but like TheObannonFile I recognise that my assumptions about that sort of stuff have been way too optimistic. Sigh.

uroshnor · April 5, 2022 4:41AM

command_f said:

Security of information tends to be a drag on such systems. Commercial comms, like iPhones, are often unacceptable because their security, though likely very good, cannot be validated by the appropriate regulators. Given privacy laws and respect for individuals' data, this is understandable.

If you want an example of how use of commercial comms can go wrong, look at the Russian army in Ukraine.

iOS has been validated by Australian Signals Directorate for the security classifications used by police in Australia for over a decade, and most Australian (& NZ) police forces use Apple devices at fairly large scales - thousands to tens of thousands of iPhones or iPad Minis mainly in multiple forces.

uroshnor · April 5, 2022 4:52AM

macgui said:

TheObannonFile said:

When I see articles like this, I realize how many assumptions I make. I assumed this was already happening at large. Adoption of things like CarPlay and USB-C at large has been painfully slow.

I can't fathom any reason why someone would reasonably assume police were using CarPlay to provide information regarding calls for service, not only at large, but at all.

It's innovative on the part of the WAP, and maybe other law enforcement agencies have done this, but at large? Hardly. I suspect an analysis of law enforcement world wide would find very few agencies with CarPlay in their enforcement vehicles. Every year more vehicles include CarPlay in their package options, some may even make it standard equipment. But most police agencies don't have the budget for that.

Police cars typically get a fit-out that raises the cost of the car to 3-5x from the "base" base for the chassis from the car manufacturer. The previous "gold standard" in policing is to mount a Panasonic Toughbook in the passenger compartment as a "Mobile Data Terminal", at the cost of over AUD $5,000 per vehicle, but thats not the only cost. Because that laptop and its keyboard are an obstruction in the safety zone for airbags and the passenger in the event of a crash, under the Australian Design Rules for cars, the fitted car needs to be destructively crash tested (usually 5 vehicles). So bringing a new type of police car into service, can cost an Australian police force several hundred thousand dollars just in crash testing, before the cost of fitting a fleet comes into it.What WA Police are doing, removes the obstruction in the passenger compartment, and means the car can keep its standard model safety certification without additional testing. So from a few different angles, its actually saving them money.

swat671 · April 5, 2022 7:31AM

FileMakerFeller said:

macgui said:

TheObannonFile said:

When I see articles like this, I realize how many assumptions I make. I assumed this was already happening at large. Adoption of things like CarPlay and USB-C at large has been painfully slow.

I can't fathom any reason why someone would reasonably assume police were using CarPlay to provide information regarding calls for service, not only at large, but at all.

It's innovative on the part of the WAP, and maybe other law enforcement agencies have done this, but at large? Hardly. I suspect an analysis of law enforcement world wide would find very few agencies with CarPlay in their enforcement vehicles. Every year more vehicles include CarPlay in their package options, some may even make it standard equipment. But most police agencies don't have the budget for that.

Twenty-some years ago there was a police chief on a FileMaker Developer mailing list that was so sick of the system foisted on his officers that he was building his own. The old system was text-based and slow; he managed to build a new one in less than 12 months that included visual data and was deployed on laptops fixed to the car structure that allowed for operation while parked. It was game-changing. Rather than relying on vague descriptions of suspected perpetrators this system could provide photographs and arrest history and special notes from previous encounters, meaning that officers were no longer bailing up citizens who might in some way match the BOLO (an approach that was, IIRC, about 10% accurate overall) but instead were spending their time "actually chasing criminals" and achieving ~85% correct matches. This led to improved community relations and lower stress levels for police officers, and was heralded for demonstrating the capabilities of the police force to adapt "new technology" to improve operations.

But what it really showed, in hindsight, is that the systemic process is one of inadequate planning where the end users have to go to heroic lengths to overcome the bureaucratic inefficiency that seems to infest large organisations. I had assumed that the project had continued to grow, but what little I can find online now suggests that it hasn't expanded beyond its initial deployment area.

With an extra few decades of software development under my belt, I'm not really surprised, but like TheObannonFile I recognise that my assumptions about that sort of stuff have been way too optimistic. Sigh.

I was a ranger with California State Parks, and this reminded me of something that made me just slap my head. I was told that the state bought MDT’s for the LE (law enforcement) rangers for their code 3 vehicles. Well, they couldn’t be installed because apparently, the software they bought to run on the computers WAS NOT FREAKING COMPATIBLE, so they had to chuck everything because none of it worked together. From my experience working for the department, that did seem about par for the course.

command_f · April 5, 2022 4:28PM

entropys said:

There ar so few roads in WA overall I expect carplay is quite good. It certainly worked flawlessly last year when I was there for a funeral.
anyway, several police services in Australia are apple shops, carrying iPad minis as part of their belt gear and all using iPhones.

WA Police used to treat the state in two different ways. There's Perth, a typical city like any, and there's most of the rest of the state. Those in most of the state used dedicated HF comms (long range from big antennas) but very low rate/no data capability. I guess it's mostly still like that.

command_f · April 5, 2022 4:31PM

uroshnor said:

iOS has been validated by Australian Signals Directorate for the security classifications used by police in Australia for over a decade, and most Australian (& NZ) police forces use Apple devices at fairly large scales - thousands to tens of thousands of iPhones or iPad Minis mainly in multiple forces.

That's interesting. Did they get access to Apple's source code, I wonder.

sirbryan · April 5, 2022 4:40PM

StrangeDays said:

bsbeamer said:

Apple needs to allow a CarPlay-like mode to be enabled or activated to run on iPhone directly. Many vehicles (even recent ones) only support BT audio and would cut down on a lot of the fiddling that unfortunately still happens while driving.

Huh? CarPlay already runs on the iPhone directly -- it's run off the phone and uses the head unit as an external touch-enabled monitor.

I think they mean a CarPlay mode on the phone's own screen. I hate that the Music app doesn't work in landscape mode like navigation does, for example.

It'd be nice (and safer?) to have a simpler, cleaner selection of "car-safe" apps and easy-to-press icons for Siri to do what it does on a CarPlay head unit.

appleinsideruser · April 5, 2022 9:46PM

StrangeDays said:

bsbeamer said:

Apple needs to allow a CarPlay-like mode to be enabled or activated to run on iPhone directly. Many vehicles (even recent ones) only support BT audio and would cut down on a lot of the fiddling that unfortunately still happens while driving.

Huh? CarPlay already runs on the iPhone directly -- it's run off the phone and uses the head unit as an external touch-enabled monitor.

I suspect they meant, run on iPhone directly on its screen. i.e. a simplified UI on the phone screen when in a car.

Western Australia Police can now use CarPlay to respond to emergencies

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