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New Zealand Frontline Police Get Apple Devices in Efficiency Measure

Posted by Unknown on from the spend-money-to-save-money dept.

mask.of.sanity writes "Thousands of New Zealand frontline police will be armed with smartphones and tablets from this year in an efficiency initiative that the force hopes will save millions of dollars. NZ Police say the devices are Apple iPhones and iPads. These will be password protected and can be wiped remotely if lost. Police declined to say if the devices and their communications will be encrypted."

8 of 114 comments (clear)

  1. Save millions... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    By buying a ton of most expensive hardware you can find.... brilliant.

    1. Re:Save millions... by Big+Hairy+Ian · · Score: 4, Insightful

      And by equipping front-line personnel with the most fragile peice of telecommunications equipment in the world!

      --

      Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.

    2. Re:Save millions... by crazyjj · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Every time some school teachers or government workers in the U.S. want the latest tech toy, they pull that same "It will save money, improve efficiency, improve the quality of our work" shit too. I've yet to see it ever do ANY of those things. Not even once.

      At least private industry can just say "We're giving it to our workers as a personal perk" and be honest about it.

      --
      What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
  2. Not sure if it'll work? by Grayhand · · Score: 4, Funny
    "frontline police will be armed with smartphones and tablets "

    I'm sure it'd hurt like hell getting hit in the head by an iPhone a cop threw but wouldn't it be cheaper to arm them with pointed sticks?

    1. Re:Not sure if it'll work? by JustOK · · Score: 4, Funny

      They have to use sticks with rounded corners now.

      --
      rewriting history since 2109
  3. Maps? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Let's hope they don't need the maps feature!

  4. Re:Setting up for iFailure by neonv · · Score: 4, Informative

    There's always malware on any operating system, including IOS. While Apple does a good job at preventing it, they can't prevent it 100% of the time. Here are a few articles talking about malware on iOS for those who think it doesn't exist.

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/adriankingsleyhughes/2012/07/06/first-ios-malware-hits-app-store/
    http://thenextweb.com/mobile/2012/08/29/finfisher-malware-goes-mobile-infects-android-iphone-blackberry/
    http://www.redmondpie.com/another-malware-app-sneaks-into-ios-app-store/
    http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/238101/scitech/hacker-reveals-ios-malware-vulnerability-gets-punished
    http://www.techpluto.com/ios-malware/

  5. Re:Setting up for iFailure by NatasRevol · · Score: 4, Informative

    Number of malware that came through the App Store - ie non-jailbroken phones - One.

    Charlie Fisher's proof of concept. Which wasn't actual malware.

    --
    There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure