In today’s modern, tech-forward police operations, communication links are officers’ lifelines. They must be able to exchange voice and data reliably and nearly instantaneously, not only with others in the field but also back to command posts, with other remote sources, and via multiple devices and avenues of transmission. Failure at any junction among any of those points could mean catastrophe.
Conversely, when those links are established and optimized and functioning as intended, the information at officers’ fingertips, even in the field, is unprecedented and invaluable for situational awareness and safe, effective operations.
Capabilities are advancing fast, and savvy departments are embracing them.
“I recently met with a customer who was basically looking to run a split screen on an Android tablet,” recalled Kerry Wicks, senior account manager at Zebra Technologies, a top provider of advanced hardware and software for law enforcement and various other industries. “They had one application running on the lefthand side of the screen and another on the right. One was a video feed, and the other one gave them the ability to interact and communicate through a messaging application. So I think we’re seeing end users like that understanding and leveraging technology more fully today. They are embracing being able to use a device and accomplish multiple tasks within that device.”
It’s certainly easier to manipulate one device than two or three, and consolidation – combining multiple functions and capabilities into fewer tools – represents a peak form of connectivity. With powerful multipurpose devices like those used by Wicks’ client and other Zebra users, it’s increasingly feasible. But until complex spreadsheets can be viewed on a handheld or laptops can be carried comfortably into the field, connectivity between devices remains a priority as well.
‘We have this extra ability … to better coordinate our response’
The benefits of a split-screen approach like that client desired aren’t hard to fathom. It eliminates the need to switch between devices or toggle between screens. That improves speed and accuracy and reduces the risk of error. Doing it on a tablet permits mobility and portability.
“They were using it to support a surveillance operation,” recalled Wicks, himself a former sheriff’s deputy in North Carolina. “They’d have a team in a vehicle watching security camera feeds from a building and other vehicles, and they were able to conduct that surveillance on a single tablet.” The instant messaging occurring on the other half ensured everyone communicated and stayed on the same operational page.
“I think public safety and law enforcement users are embracing that kind of technology more and more,” he added, “rather than having to run around with multiple devices, maybe watching video on a laptop and using a handheld for communication.”
With its Workstation Connect, Zebra offers a key tool for connecting and combining information sources from multiple devices. By way of a simple cradle that’s suitable for a station desktop or a cruiser’s console, its software lets the screens of mobile Android devices and tablets be viewed and operated on larger monitors, with a full range of peripherals attached, quickly converting them from on-the-go tools to full workstations. That can be handy when you need to review large documents like building floor plans on the fly, or when accessing big databases that might be difficult to navigate on small screens.
Workstation Connect provides HDMI, Ethernet connectivity and multiple USB ports and can connect keyboard, mice, scanners, printers and headsets. The monitor can either mirror the screen of the cradled device or provide a traditional desktop interface with taskbar, sizable windows and app shortcuts while also controlling the handheld screen.
It works with Zebra’s Android 11+ devices, which include its TC58 and TC78 handhelds and ET4x and two-in-one ET6x tablets.
With configurable windows, that can support the kind of dual-function use Wicks’ client sought. And the usefulness of that isn’t limited to surveillance scenarios.
“The biggest conversations I’ve had around Workstation Connect involve letting people see their CAD dispatch mapping-type solutions, but then also being able to message and communicate with responders or their team separately from that channel they have with dispatch,” said Wicks. “People can get the call data that comes in – they can see it, read it, get a map and directions. But a lot of times, there’s also a lot of radio traffic going on. Law enforcement is responding, fire’s responding, EMS is responding. There’s a lot happening on the radio, so having another communication tool, such as a messaging application that works within a particular group, allows messaging and coordinating response without having to talk over people or wait for the radio traffic to clear.
“Radio traffic is doing its normal thing, but now we have this extra ability on the same screen to be able to use a messaging application to better coordinate our response.”
Besides speed and efficiency, there’s a cost savings here. Leveraging mobile assets to replace desktops reduces capital and operational expenses, and Zebra has found workstations driven by mobile devices consume less than half the energy of traditional desktops.
Connectivity options within devices
Beyond the Workstation Connect, Zebra’s assorted hardware devices all feature multiple connectivity options to ensure important exchanges get where they’re going.
Among the handhelds, the TC53/TC58 and TC73/TC78 all come ready for 5G, Wi-Fi 6E and CBRS. Zebra notes Wi-Fi 6E is three times faster and supports quadruple the number of devices of earlier versions, improving throughput. 5G brings wired speeds and stronger and more reliable signals to wireless networks. Support for CBRS private LTE networks enables connectivity in large facilities. Supported models in both families can also function as PBX handsets.
Among tablets, the ET45 features 5G data, Wi-Fi 6, GPS and Bluetooth 5.1. The ET65 provides Wi-Fi 6E, 5G, 5G private networks, CBRS, GPS and Bluetooth 5.2. Everything is durably engineered to withstand the rigors of the field.
Connectivity is about more than hardware, though. Software is just as essential to advanced communications, and of course departments need formal frameworks of processes and protocols governing their communication functions. Core software that powers the connectivity of Zebra devices include its Mobility DNA suite for device security and lifecycle management and DNA Cloud for remote setup, configuration and updates.
“With consolidation – Workstation Connect being an example – you’re bringing multiple points of data management into a single device, so of course that provides a cost savings on the hardware applications,” said Wicks. “But that can also reduce the software solutions you require. You don’t have to have multiple VPN connections. There are fewer man-hours required for maintenance when you’re going to a single device.
“So I think a coordinated effort to eliminate multiple devices can make things easier to manage, and it also gives you the ability to manage it in a more secure way, because you’re limiting the number of devices you have to be concerned with.”
For more information, visit Zebra Technologies.
