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BlackBerrys for coppers: UK law enforcement to smarten up in 2010

Police men and women of Blighty are about to step into the 21st century, albeit a decade late, with a new weapon in the fight against boredom on the beat. The BBC reports that smartphones will become standard issue throughout the Queen's realm by March 2010, as a result of successful trials carried out in 30 constabularies through this year. Improved "operational efficiency" and reduced bureaucracy are argued as the key benefits, with a solid 30 minutes less time being spent in police stations each day. And we're absolutely positive that extra half hour will go toward increased "visibility in the community" and not checking out friends' Facebook status updates. No, really!

Read -- BBC report
Read -- Bedfordshire case study

Cops adopt SMS tip lines to help fight crime, find out where the party is


Apparently, law enforcement is seriously stepping into the 21st century. According to a report, police dep artments in Boston, Cincinnati and over 100 other communities have begun using a text message tip-line in the hopes that cellphone-savvy youngsters will alert them if they see a crime being committed, or know of one ahead of time. "It's obvious that the future of communication is texting," said Boston Police Crime Stoppers commander (and techno-visionary) Michael Charbonnier, adding that the department's system as yielded, "Some great drug information, specific times, dates, names of suspects, locations, pickup times, [and] license plate numbers." The only roadblock? Getting cops to understand that OMG doesn't refer to a terrorist attack.




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