By Julian Goldsmith, 27 November 2007 15:45
Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) in Lewisham have been given PDAs from O2 to help them report environmental crimes.
PCSOs in Lewisham's Downham Safer Neighbourhood teams have been trialling the devices. The borough's 18 Safer Neighbourhood teams have been given a PDA so they can capture images of environmental crimes, such as graffiti and fly-tipping, and then send them to a special council website (www.lovelewisham.org) where the image is recorded and given a unique job reference number. It is then targeted for removal and the results recorded on the website, so that residents and or PCSOs can check to see if the job has been dealt with.
Images are sent using SIM cards via O2's GPRS data network. This means the software can locate co-ordinates without the user needing to input an address. This pinpoints the exact location of the item being reported.
Using the Love Lewisham site has meant in one year the Council has tripled the amount of graffiti removed in half the time and on a reduced budget.
Photo credit: Lewisham Council
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1. David Bowler
Um, excuse me, what happens to the Police database when one of these devices gets nicked from the back of a patrol car?