Mobile Data on the Beat!

Brand Communications Helps Surrey Police Fight Crime with Mobile Data

Huntingdon, UK, 29th January 2001

Remote Access Specialists - Brand Communications today has announced it’s involvement with Surrey Police by working together on a mobile computing project, equipping all Surrey Police’s patrol officers out in the field with mobile data technology. Surrey Police were keen to implement mobile computing to improve their efficiency and customer service, but had to take into account practical issues such as for example, portability, GSM cover and application support.

The solution consisted of the Apollo Emulator software for each officer’s portable PC and a 60 port Apollo Access Server as the communications hub between GSM and the Surrey Police LAN. Connecting over the Orange network, Apollo seamlessly extends the Surrey Police network to all mobile officers by using the unique combination of spoofing, resilient call recovery, security and compression. In addition, Brand has also provided Surrey Police with an Apollo Evolution. This enables users connecting via PSTN or ISDN to enjoy the benefits of Apollo connectivity for remote access.

The ROVER (Remote Officer and Vehicle Environment) Mobile Computing initiative allows Surrey Police officers at the scene of a crime to enter information directly into a crime report in real time, to capture information such as descriptions of stolen goods, witness statements and descriptions of suspects. This can lead to the early arrest of criminals and recovery of goods. It also allows officers to provide victims with a crime number at the first visit, making it easier for them to trace the subsequent progress of enquiries relating to their incident.

For specialist officers such as members of the Fraud Squad it has allowed them to create a true mobile office, significantly reducing the need for them to return to their physical office. Now using Brand Mobile Computing technology they can access all of their records including email, intranet, crime management reports, applications and databases wherever they are.

Surrey Police are now able to enjoy a workable solution, which delivers many significant new benefits and bottom line cost savings to their organisation, based around Brand’s Apollo GSM LAN access solution.

Phil Scutchings, Director of Information Services at Surrey Police explains: "With Mobile Computing, we hope to dramatically cut the valuable police-hours spent on administration, freeing up officers to spend more time serving the public. Access to data can be used for anything officers presently have to go back to the station to do - it means that they can be on the beat for longer without having to return to base."

Martin Kendrick, MD of Brand Communications summarised: "This contract is important for the Emergency Services Sector as it clearly shows just how easy mobile data can be, as it is approached using open standards and a strong partnership. Surrey Police are leading the way, and they have proved beyond doubt that GSM Data cannot only work, but can deliver superb results. It is yet another success for Brand, and we are delighted to be associated with such a prestigious project".

About Brand Communications

Brand Communications is a global leader in mobile data and remote access solutions. We develop, manufacture and market a range of leading mobile, remote office and site-to-site access solutions for all environments including ISDN, PSTN, Fixed Lines, Satellite, GSM and GPRS.

Apollo has helped to significantly grow the number of active GSM data users worldwide and has delivered tangible paybacks to many networks and their users. Apollo continues to deliver such rich benefits to HSCSD, GPRS and 3G networks. More information can be found at http://www.brandcomms.com

About Surrey Police

Surrey Police consists of over 2000 officers’ and covers the administrative county serving over one million residents. The county has one of the lowest crime rates in the country – a measure of the forces strategy – and Surrey is one of the safest places in which to live.
For more information, please visit http://www.surrey.police.uk

For further information on Brand Communications Ltd, contact:

Miss Katie Sarah Ruff
Brand Communications Limited
Trinity House
Ermine Business Park
Huntingdon
Cambs, PE29 6XY

Tel: +44 (0)1480 442100   Email: katier@brandcomms.com
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