BlackBerrys on the beat

Thames Valley Police is rolling out 1,100 BlackBerry smart phones to its police and community support officers.

The initiative is part of the £50m Home Office and National Policing Improvement Agency funding announced last week for 10,000 hand-held devices to be rolled out across 27 police forces.

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The BlackBerry devices - which will use the Orange network - will allow police officers to spend more time on the beat as they can remotely access systems they currently have to return to the police station for.

This includes the Police National Computer and other Thames Valley Police systems through which officers can check suspect names and conduct vehicle checks.

Other apps include video witness and custody photographs; the missing person's database; the warrants, court orders and bail database; duty management and briefings information and neighbourhood crime notifications.

Keith Gough, mobile information project manager at Thames Valley Police said the tech will allow officers to "police smarter not harder".

He added mobile access will mean officers are better informed with up-to-the-minute information, allowing them to improve the service they provide to local communities.

The mobile devices will also boost security by reducing the amount of paperwork that could potentially go astray, as well as providing the option to remotely disable them if they get lost, the police force claims.

BlackBerry devices are the only mobile devices accredited for restricted level data by the UK government national security body, the CESG.