New Zealand officials announced that the police force is migrating to a new communications provider. Vodaphone will provide over 6,000 frontline police officers with iPhones with customized mobile service and 3,900 of the staff will receive iPads. The announcement was made by New Zealand Police Commissioner Peter Marshall, Prime Minister John Key and Police Minister Anne Tolley. New Zealnd police preferred Apple for daily use over other brand devices.
Vodaphone will link the department's line services to mobile reducing costs as part of the deal. The partnership is part of New Zealand's All-of Government procurement program. Under these contracts, a sole agreement is established with approved supplier and the Crown to supply common goods and services across the government.
Competing communications provider, Telecom lost the deal to Vodaphone and the 10 year deal will begin in April. Initially, the cost of equipping staff members will cost $4.3 million dollars for the next three months. Operating costs to fund the project will be $159 for the 10 year duration of the agreement.
During an 11-month trial run of the new smartphones, it was found that the mobile devices made the department more efficient. Feedback from the 100 frontline staff members involved showed that the iPhone was the preferred smartphone device and iPad was the preferred tablet." The approach used to develop the applications means Police can move to other devices with relative ease as technology changes," said Police Chief Stephen Crombie.
Crombie told National Business Review, "The trial showed the most useful tools for officers were small personal devices (such as a smartphone) for making phone calls or text messaging, accessing email, and accessing information and photo databases, and a larger such as a laptop or tablet for staff who need to do more data entry," said Crombie.
"We believe greater use of modern technology is the way of the future; it's common sense, and will ensure officers can remain on the frontline rather than returning to stations to complete paperwork," Commissioner Marshall says.
Vodaphone has 25 years of experience in the communications business and operate in more than 30 countries and has partnerships with networks in over 50 more.
