NYPD Eyes Faster, More Efficient Crime Response With Help From Cops' New Tools - the iPhone 7, 7 Plus
The New York Police Department has started upgrading the mobile devices used by police officers to iPhone 7 and 7 Plus units as they hope for a much faster and more efficient response to 911 calls.
In December 2017, the NYPD began upgrading its mobile devices from Windows phones to newer versions of the iPhones. NYPD Deputy Commissioner for Information and Technology Jessica Tisch told New York Daily News that they were issuing around 600 iPhones everyday to cops under their department.
The same report revealed that the release of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus units to NYPD cops began before Christmas, starting with police officers stationed in the Bronx and Staten Island. Manhattan cops have also been receiving their new iPhones for work, and once they're done, the officers in Brooklyn and Queens will get theirs next.
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Since they have been equipped with smartphones, NYPD police officers can directly receive 911 calls and immediately respond to them without waiting for a separate notification from the dispatcher. It ultimately cuts down their response time in getting to the scene.
According to Tisch, they found that the average of the NYPD officers' response times to crimes had gone down by 14 percent since they equipped their cops with the new smartphones.
Aside from 911 calls, the new mobile phones also give the NYPD immediate access to their criminal background database and can also be used to fill out forms for crime and accident reports as well as court summons.
The same publication cited an incident in 2017 where Police Officer Christopher Clampitt and his partner (who were stationed in the 13th Precinct in Gramercy Park) were able to effectively stop an on-going robbery and arrest the perpetrators with the help of their smartphones.
"We were able to affect an arrest," Clampitt said. "If we (had waited for the radio) our response time would have been less and the guy would have gotten away."
The new iPhone 7 and 7 Plus phones will replace around 36,000 Lumia 640 XL and Lumia 830 units used by the NYPD cops.
