Today frontline police officers are using all sorts of devices to gather information - from tablet computers and voice recorders, to body-worn cameras and sensors. At the same time, they continue to use a variety of devices to communicate such as radios and smartphones etc.. What if these all devices could collaborate with each other to share the right information with the right users at the right time, providing mission critical intelligence?

With the amount of devices police officers are being asked to use and manage, collaborative devices are becoming the core of Public Safety technology, ultimately producing the following benefits:

• Improved personnel safety
• More collaborative teamwork
• Better situational awareness
• Increased time in the field (less time spent in the office or driving to and from the office)
• Faster response time

When emergency responders use collaborative, mission critical devices, they extend the reach of information that can be harnessed and turned into intelligence. Whether it’s a police officer uploading body-worn video using his vehicle’s LTE modem or an undercover detective remotely controlling a surveillance camera with a smartphone, or even an ambulance worker, all emergency responders can benefit from real-time mission critical collaboration.

Let’s take a routine traffic stop for example. An officer pulls over a vehicle for speeding in a residential area. As the officer gets out of the vehicle, they see that the driver is opening their car door and stepping out of the car so the officer pulls out his taser in case the driver becomes violent or has a weapon. When the taser is pulled, the sensor in the holster automatically triggers recording of the body worn camera. The body worn camera also takes a photo of the scene/suspect upon the removal of the taser, sending the photo to command over WiFi, which is provided by the LTE Modem in the vehicle. As dispatch sends backup, the officer can see those backup officers approaching on the location application on his smartphone. He can keep them updated on the incident by using the push-to-talk button on his body-worn camera or smartphone so he doesn’t have to pick up his radio. The officer manages to calm the driver down, run his number plate and issue a ticket all on his smartphone. When he gets back to his vehicle, he tags the body worn video and uploads the video and report using the LTE Modem in the vehicle. He is then dispatched to another incident.

Devices can no longer operate in silos; in order to maximise their potential they need to part of an integrated ecosystem. That’s why we’re building future-ready, mission critical devices that can collaborate intelligently as a group. By harnessing real-time information provided by individual devices within the group, we can use a context engine to recognise the situation an officer is in. This context engine ensures that the right immediate actions are taken e.g. send alert to dispatch or activate bodyworn camera. The foundation for this context engine is Intelligent Middleware, a suite of services that we are creating to enable the sharing of mission-critical intelligence in the field.. Combining these capabilities with mission-critical ruggedness and security is the equation for the future Public Safety device ecosystem.

If you want to know more you can download our white paper - Delivering Real-Time Collaboration Across Devices and Networks

Danielle Doo is a Solutions Marketing Manager at Motorola Solutions.

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