iPad in Law Enforcement

[Eumatthe]

Hey Daren - to add to the suggestions you've already gotten...

Hello everyone. I'm a police officer and am just wondering if there are any other officers out there that have found a good application of the iPad in their day to day LE duties.

Thanks,
Daren

____________________________

I put together a short Article titled "iPad and iPhone apps for Law Enforcement" that I think answers your question pretty well. Rather than re-post the whole thing, I'll share a snippet here and if you're interested you can Google search it.


Under Development:
At the time of this article there were several LE focused iPhone and iPad applications including found, including:

Auto VIN Decoder - returns make, model, year etc., for input VIN number
Field Contact - photo and field contact details, saved and/or emailed instantly for distribution to colleagues
California Law - all California Codes - instant search (tip - deactivate the codes that you don't use every day to save RAM)
Scanner 911 - listen to any local public safety channels that are distributed on the Internet.
Call2 Police- finds the local PD phone number based on your GPS location
Dial Zero - gets you to customer service numbers without going through "Press 1 for ..." "now Press 2 for...."

There are a LOT of apps for the iPhone that aren't yet in the iPad that can easily be adapted for use by LE primarily using the integrated camera; Magnifyer, Dragon Naturally Speaking, Geo-tagging, etc. I suspect that the next generation of iPad will overcome a lot of shortfalls just by adding voice and forward/rearward facing cameras.

Good luck on your search
~
Eugene Matthews


....MODERATED....NO EXTERNAL LINKS....AS PER FORUM RULES....

 

[Wakawaka]

I don't see the ipad as a practical tool in the field. Other than data, what good is the iPad outside the patrol car?

Only thing I could see as semi-practical is space saving. However typing on the "keyboard" would be a pain.

The MDT is a great system. It does the job. I doubt the iPad could stand a day in the field.. Taking down suspects information, then he bolts. Drop the iPad, or haul after em with it in your hands?

 

[pik0]

Taking down suspects information, then he bolts. Drop the iPad, or haul after em with it in your hands?

Fling the iPad like Oddjob's bowler in GoldFinger, knock them on their keister. Easy peazy...

 

[Wakawaka]

Taking down suspects information, then he bolts. Drop the iPad, or haul after em with it in your hands?

Fling the iPad like Oddjob's bowler in GoldFinger, knock them on their keister. Easy peazy...

As long as the department pays for it hell why not!

 

[henry2]

You are going to see it more in the area of CSI type work of after something happens or in the hands of a Detective working a case instead of the patrol units ..

For the patrol section of a police dept is really the hardest end user of the technology inside a police vehicle ..For the partol vehicle is on a 24 hours a day-x-3 eight hours shift cycles a day..so there is no really downtime for the vehicle intill something breaks down with the vehicle to take it out of service ..

So the technology inside the car is going to get abused from the heat of a hot summer day to the coldest day of the year in your area of patrol without a lot of down time ..So those items have to be able to take punishment of beening used and abused in that cycle of each 8.hour partol cycle of use ..

Plus remember this statement by the former LAPD Chief Daryl Gates in a speech that he have given about the use of technology in law enforcement and the use of it in the future of law enforcement

Technology is a wonderfull thing for it can shorten the time that a officer has to deal with paperwork and other problems that comes up in the police officer daily life on the job ..

But technology is a double end sword also for we can get to used to useing technology to solve a crime inside of going out and doing work that we need to do as police officers inside the community that we are sworn to protect by not getting out of the car and meeting and getting to known the people in the area that we are sworn to protect ..

 

[mcourtney]

Hello everyone. I'm a police officer and am just wondering if there are any other officers out there that have found a good application of the iPad in their day to day LE duties.

Thanks,
Daren

Darren I have been using field contact it is a good app for keeping track of suspects

 

[Lakemoorchief]

Speaking as an iOS developer, what kinds of apps would help our Boys in Blue?

Piko

As a Police Chief in a cash strapped municipality (which one isn't?), I am wondering about the feasibility of replacing our very expensive Toughbooks with I-Pads; It would be great if we could somehow get them to access all the data bases that we currently access with our mobile computers

 

[Eumatthe]

iPad, iPhone and applications suggestions for use inLaw Enforcement and Investigation

While I agree that there are some security concerns that need to be considered, I also realize that as a former LEO there were often times when having my (then) PDA saved me hours of frustration with regard to note taking. Now that I teach Criminal Justice courses including the use of everyday forensics, I see adding the use of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technology as a boon for LEA's and LEO's. The inherent security for mobile devices remains the same as tha of an other piece of police property, that is, the security rests with the individual user.
We should not avoid leveraging technology which could make the job easier or make us more effective simply because someone might be careless. If we don't or can't trust the individual with the technology, don't give it to them. But that's a slippery slope; if they can't be responsible enough to safeguard technology, how do you trust them with a badge and a gun?

That said, some things that I have noted that would be useful in the field in addition to basic field interview cards and associated report management system (RMS) interfaces, and an expanded use of the Dragon Naturally Speaking feature currently available in iTunes as a free download, for note taking, would be an expansion in the use of biometric data, crime scene comparison photography, and crime scene sketch and 3d renderings.
Biometrics - is it possible to capture a fingerprint developed at a crime scene and send it to the lab for an AFIS search?
- is it possible to capture a full-face photo and send it to a database for facial recognition search?

Crime Scenes - is it possible to capture photographs of crime scenes with sufficient clarity to conduct a 3D walk through, similar to what realtors do when showing houses online?
- is it possible to convert crime scene photos into sketches complete with measurements from focal points, as well as overall room or location dimensions with any accuracy?

From Crime Analysts and Crime analysis the two things that would pay huge dividends to the person who could design it, are the creation of an Association Matrix which could be extracted into an excel spreadsheet for use in other systems as well, and the development of a Link Chart application which would depict who was doing wha with whom.

If any of these notions strikes a cord in the heart of a program developer, I have an iPad2 and I'm not afraid to use it! Feel free to contact me for specifics and I'll happily clarify or elaborate on any suggestions I've made.

Thanks in advance for your consideration
~
Eugene

 

[Eumatthe]

As mentioned in my post, one of the simplest tools I've found to use in a variety of ways is the Dragon Naturally Speaking iPhone / iPad app available on iTunes as a free download. Another tool that is become increasingly useful is the GoogleEarth app.
~
Eugene

 

[Eumatthe]

Chief, as much as I enjoy and promote the use of iPads I also realize that unless you "toughen" them up with some sort of Otterbox case, they won't withstand the rigor that most officers put the Toughbooks through. For office use, followon interviews or more controlled and less dynamic filed use, the iPad could really be a time and resource multiplier, but for daily routine patrol use, a 'Tough' piece of equipment is almost mandatory.
~
Eugene

 

[DJCole124]

I just purchased an Ipad and I'm trying to add apps to use in CID. I like the format and believe this will be the future. As far as protecting the Ipad, try Gumdrop Cases, or G form cases. Gumdrop cover the screen and the back, but G Form protects the entire Ipad (it's a sleeve type that will withstand a 12lb. bowling ball from 3 feet). I hope this helps.

 

[txpatsfan89]

Is anyone aware of any special pricing on Ipads for purchase by a department or of any grants available to use for purchasing Ipads? Our department is looking into getting a tablet device for our investigators.

 

[AdmiralAdama]

Is anyone aware of any special pricing on Ipads for purchase by a department or of any grants available to use for purchasing Ipads? Our department is looking into getting a tablet device for our investigators.

If your department is a municipal police force, and your town or city is incorporated, iPads as an investigative tool, should be eligible for state and / or federal tax credits or deduction for a business. Your department could save that way.

AA

 

[PDLite]

Chief,

I'd be interested in the additional databases to which you wish to attach. RMS? CAD? And do you wish to interact with these databases or just draft information from them in the process of running a query?

 

[notsonu2this]

2 factor authentication

Anyone have a good source of information or implemented a 2 factor authentication for the IPad?

A great application: Tactical Police Table