Police Vehicle 2.0 – The future of Digital Policing

German police officers have access to a host of valuable information when in their vehicles from the details of their next call out to useful information databases and important office applications. But a new technology solution is enabling officers to take this digital intelligence with them onto the streets when they exit their vehicles.

Emergency Services tech leaders - Panasonic, B&T Solutions, Rohde & Schwarz Cybersecurity and Tonfunk – have teamed up to offer the complete Police Vehicle 2.0 solution. Police vehicles using the popular Tonfunk Polaris interactive control system can now extend its use outside of the vehicle using a secure connection to a Panasonic TOUGHBOOK device.

The solution enables officers to mirror the screen of the Polaris system in the car onto the rugged tablet. With this technology, they can now access police systems, capture detailed information about incidents – saving time on paperwork – and even use the tablet to take photos, for example, at the scene of a road traffic accident. And because it’s rugged, the tablet device is designed for use outdoors. It’s easy to read and use in bright sunlight or poor weather and is resistant to drops, dust, water and extreme temperatures. It can be used with or without a keyboard and has a long-life battery that can easily be replaced by the user – ensuring the device can work as long as any shift might require.

Thanks to support from Rohde & Schwarz Cybersecurity, the connection meets BSI-approved IT security standards with a secure browser, a software-based VPN client and hard drive encryption. The solution is also VS-NfD authorised for secure data.

Emergency services integration specialists, B&T Solutions, ensure that the devices are installed safely and in a user-friendly way whether in the front of the vehicles or stored away for use when leaving the vehicles.

So, the next time you see a police officer outside of their vehicle with a rugged tablet in their hand, it’s likely you have just seen the future of mobile computing policing – Police Vehicle 2.0.