Redfly adopted by the police

February 24th, 2009 | Author: admin

The Celio Redfly is often seen as a technology solution looking for a problem, but it seemed to have found a position in a rather unlikely place.

According to a Celio press release, Memphis, Tennessee, Police Department (MPD) has purchased and deployed 1,200 REDFLY Mobile Companions to officers in the field as an alternative to in-car laptops.

Apparently prior to the REDFLYs, the Memphis PD was using smartphones to gain access to sites and applications such as the Watson Field Reporting Suite and the MPD’s own web database. However, it quickly became apparent that working and typing on the smartphone’s small screen and keyboard limited the officers’ ability to effectively use the databases and applications to aid in their jobs.

“We noticed that when officers use only their smartphones, reports had typos and the quality of the narratives were not as detailed as they needed to be,” said Major Jim Harvey. “The larger screen and keyboard has given our officers what they need to bring up mug shots and individuals’ information from our databases, as well as implement a new Paperless Reporting program to submit incident report narratives. Now they can do their jobs more effectively and are very comfortable using their smartphones to file their reports.”

Harvey continued, “We want to provide our officers with the best technology, while being good stewards of the taxpayers’ money. This is a good investment.”

The REDFLY provides officers with larger screens and keyboards, which has enabled them to improve incident report narratives.

“The Memphis PD’s decision to use the REDFLY Mobile Companion is a tremendous example of the efficiency and cost savings this technology can provide,” said Kirt Bailey, president and CEO of Celio Corp. “They are showing organizations of every size how to get the most out of their mobile technology investment.”

Additional benefits would be no change in data security policy and implementation needed, as the Celio Redly is just a dumb terminal without any data storage on the device itself. Units are also fully interchangeable, meaning any police officer can use the REDFLY of any other without any setup or personalization required.

For more information visit www.celiocorp.com.

Via TracyandMatt.com