Being a cop requires mastery of many things, and technology is absolutely one of them. You don’t have to be able to write code or invent whiz-bang new apps, but a fundamental understanding of computers, connections and capabilities can make your life easier and policing more effective.
Things are moving fast, though, and even the best-intended law enforcement tech specialists may be susceptible to dated information, exaggerated sales pitches and plain old misconceptions. This article dispels some common myths that persist around law enforcement’s embrace of the mobile devices – from handhelds and tablets to wearables and vehicle-mounted computers – that are now so essential to their jobs.
‘Consumer-grade is as good as enterprise’
You wouldn’t bring the proverbial knife to a gunfight. In the same vein, a tablet or smartphone designed for personal use likely isn’t up to the varied and demanding needs of your profession. Law enforcement requires dedicated products tailored to its environment and circumstances, not substitutes repurposed for use on the job.
“There’s still a gap in understanding between enterprise and consumer-grade solutions,” said Kerry Wicks, senior account manager for Zebra Technologies, a major provider of mobile devices and related products for law enforcement and other industries. “We have customers who have learned some valuable lessons when they’ve made significant investments in consumer-grade products, only to end up coming back and wanting to look at rugged enterprise solutions.”
This misguided initial decision can often be a function of cost: Enterprise products are typically pricier, as they require (especially for law enforcement) enhanced ruggedness and durability, greater security, integration and support. But a choice is scarcely cheaper if it sacrifices key functions, breaks down frequently or must be replaced in half the time of an alternative.
“From the Zebra perspective, our devices are super rugged – you can beat them up, and they’ll last forever,” added Wicks. “So it’s kind of a two-edged sword. In five years we might come back and say, ‘Hey, you ought to think about refreshing because we have something new.’ And the customer’s like, ‘My stuff is running great. I’m in a good place, thanks.’ Because our devices are so rugged and reliable, being able to get six, eight or 10 years out of them is doable.”
‘Upfront price is the biggest concern’
Sticker prices matter, but they’re not the only things. The durability/lifespan balance begins to illustrate how total cost of ownership can be a more useful metric than mere purchase price. Real costs include aspects like deployment, training, support and maintenance.
Zebra provides an array of training designed to help users get the most from its mobile devices, printers and RFID technologies. It also offers a support plan that can extend the useful lives of certain models up to a decade.
“On some of our higher-end devices, we will support the operating system for up to 10 years from the date the product is released,” said Wicks. “Ten years down the road, we’re still providing security patches and other things. So, for example, if Google decides they’re no longer going to support that version of Android, that’s OK for our customers because for that 10-year period, if they have their devices under our Zebra OneCare contract, we assure them they’re going to get the patches necessary to continue to use those devices.
“Over 90% of the folks I deal with, when we talk about that, you can see their eyebrows raise. Many of them have had solutions where they got three years in and had to go purchase all new devices. That’s one differentiator for Zebra our users have found to be very valuable.”
‘I don’t need to understand this because other people do’
While it’s true that quality vendors can offer expertise and guidance around products and technologies police users might not know, buyers should try to develop at least a surface-level knowledge of issues and capabilities before entering any purchasing process. You can’t ask the right questions from a position of complete ignorance.
Take an emerging technology like RFID, so useful for fast and accurate accountability around equipment and gear. You likely know it’s quicker and easier than barcoding – but do you know the difference between active and passive RFID? It’s a pretty fundamental distinction: Active RFID tags contain their own batteries and can emit signals that initiate communication with readers; passive tags have no internal power source and can only respond when energized by a reader’s signal.
“If you watch the NFL, you’ll see player stats that come up on the screen – that’s done through Zebra technology,” said Wicks. “We have RFID readers around the arena that pick up the player movements. We have nickel-size tokens in places like shoulder pads and the thread of the ball. There’s actually a tag in the ball’s laces which is how you measure ball speed and arch and all those things. So that’s active RFID – it’s live, it’s active, it’s feeding data instantaneously.
“Passive is the majority of what we see with our state and local government users. That’s where I tag something, and it’s sitting somewhere, and to go find it I pop out a scanner, wave the wand, get a read and am able to identify it. Many agencies I work with think those are the same things.”
Do some preliminary research on the product areas where you’ll be buying before initiating the process.
‘Upgrading is a security risk’
While exchanging devices or systems must be done cautiously and data always protected, upgrading mobile technologies usually means improving device and data security. Newer models are built with key protection and resilience measures their predecessors may lack.
On top of native hardware features such as broad-based encryptions, hacking and malware protections, and hardened physical designs, Zebra’s Android-based mobile devices can be further protected with additional security and management layers via its Mobility DNA suite and Mobility Extensions (Mx). Mobility DNA provides measures like patching, configuration lockdown and LifeGuard for Android, Zebra’s extended security-patch and OS-update program. Mx is a proprietary enterprise-grade security and management layer that adds controls for security and access, communication and networking, device behavior and more.
Devices can support multifactor authentication (a fingerprint reader addition is planned for 2026) and user-specific settings. Agencies can monitor, update and lock them remotely. Centralized logging facilitates diagnostics, auditing and reviews. With secure communications (VPN, encrypted data, secure PTT apps, etc.), agencies can maintain chain of custody, track who accessed what and minimize unauthorized access. Zebra rugged tablets and handhelds are also built to meet military-grade standards for drop/shock, temperature, dust, water ingress and more.
“There are certain expectations within the user community today that I think any technology company is responsible to deliver, but there are also things that differentiate Zebra in what we do,” said Wicks. “The extended security updates and patches are something you’re not going to get everywhere – that’s an enterprise-level solution because we have a partnership with Google. Our developers work with their developers. But the assurance to the end user of a continued ability to provide security for that device is paramount. And then our partner solutions implement security on the application layer as well.”
Get ready to upgrade
There are a few other general things to know about technology upgrades.
- They won’t solve all your problems. Technology is a force multiplier, not a force unto itself. Without thoughtful policies, training and buy-in, even the best tools will have little impact.
- More data doesn’t automatically mean better decisions. Data is only as good as the quality and consistency of the input, its accurate interpretation and willingness to act on the findings.
- To foster buy-in, focus on how tools make officers’ lives safer and easier; conduct repeatable hands-on training; ensure command embrace and modeling; and avoid any “gotcha” approaches to discipline.
- Cutting-edge tools aren’t only for big cities. Scalable cloud-based platforms, grant funding and vendor agreements can help defray costs.
To prepare for upgrades in your agency, start by defining your goals and discussing them with your vendor. Define what you’re able to invest and the changes and improvements you expect. A thorough analysis should encompass all costs and benefits – and who knows what you’ll discover?
“ROI usually comes back to kind of the same kinds of things: dollars and cents and the overall cost of a project,” noted Wicks. “Then you start assimilating all the things below that: the man-hours involved, the costs of materials, etc. Those are the easily measured items, but then there are always other things along the way that seem to get discovered – things people weren’t aware of or had grown numb to.
“When they actually take the time to do the analysis, it just seems like there’s always much more to help them understand the benefit of technology than they were expecting going in.”
For more information, visit Zebra.
