The End ?

[_DeS_]

Local News From My Area I would like to pass on to other hobbiests & Get their opinion...Check it out...

Well it seems that link died and redirected to half the article so I figure I'll post it here...


Cape Breton cops pick BlackBerrys

Canadian Press

SYDNEY, N.S. — Police in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality are about to embrace the BlackBerry.

Fifty police officers will be on-line with BlackBerrys by May 18 — the start of a pilot project that involves a partnership with Atlantic Canadian telecom provider Aliant.

Another 50 officers will probably get the devices by June.

Insp. Tom Hastie said some other officers in the Cape Breton Regional Police Service would also get BlackBerrys if the project is successful.

"There will be other police services across Canada that also will be able to use this service," he said. "I can see this being a major innovation right across Canada."

Police using BlackBerrys can tap into the national crime information databank to check on a car or person without going over the air to their dispatch centre — or anyone else who may be listening on a scanner, he said.

Radio silence is crucial on a stakeout, Hastie said.

"They could be watching a drug house, and they want to know who is travelling to the drug house, they can do this in real time, right there confidentially — nobody can pick these up."

Officers using cellphones also risk being overheard, he said.

BlackBerrys also have GPS tracking which can show where a police officer is at any given time, he noted.

Hastie said the cost of equipping police with BlackBerrys will be eased by the ability to buy in bulk and the savings in pagers and cellphones.

Police have come a long way from days when he started out, said Hastie.

"It's quite a change. Technology has changed drastically in my career."

 

[MetalCarnage]

Meh

This just goes along with my feelings about Canada's law enforcement agencys wasting money on pointless technology. Encrypt the opt channels that need to be encrypted, last time i checked, when i hear OPP pull someone over and get a CNI check on someone, i didnt go and use the information for anything, nor do i even have an idea what i would use it for. Besides, if anything, if i find out some dude has a history of drug, gun and violence charges, i wont be using any overheard info to get to know them better anyways, lol, if anything i will remember the name and make sure i avoid the name....but ya, we have cops in many rural areas running around with the crappiest equipment imaginable, but instead of gving them more useful tools to do there job, police boards are worried about scanner listeners finding out that Joe Blow has a history of being a pothead....props to Blackberry for their innovations however, but in the end, Blackberry's = Executives, not cops....lol, my company has enough probs with blackberry's being broken, the cop blackberrys better be beefed up or they are going to break like glass.......thats my rant anyways

 

[hemi]

The thing i have ever rememberd of someone's cni is a sex child sex offender who lives not far from me and family. I have not used that info, but rest assured i rember it.

 

[MetalCarnage]

The thing i have ever rememberd of someone's cni is a sex child sex offender who lives not far from me and family. I have not used that info, but rest assured i rember it.

ya, well i know that not every single one of us scanner owners is a good samaritan (i will assume anyone that is a regular member on here is like me enjoys scanning solely as a hobby of sititng in the "shack" or car and just listening to stuff for the enjoyment) but if anything the only thing i would use information for that i heard over the comm's is to either keep an eye out for something or to further aid emerg services by being another set of eyes in the field. Cant say i understand why people would want to use the information we hear for evil purposes, but then again, i guess to understand them i would have to be a criminal too

 

[mrweather]

Unless RIM comes up with a Motorola-tough version there's no way those little BB's will survive in a public safety environment.

I can see where they'd be helpful but as a BB user myself it's simply a lot more efficient to relay traffic by yacking on a radio than "thumbing" in the message!

 

[MetalCarnage]

Bah, all this crap of using new technology and the implementation lately of unscannable technology has me quite pissed off, not a fan of it one bit...

 

[VA3QRM]

...funny to me all these small ( and large cities ) get hoodwinked into buying new technology. Reminds me of the farmers on the TV show Green Acres with Mr. Haney. Except you and I were not paying the tax bill. The local municipality is leasing from Moto**** and they will no longer support their system..... this is going to cost us!!!!! I remember the Police being told that " you would need sophisticated radio equipment to monitor their comms...." even a regular scanner with the freqs programmed in decending order worked and even better was the sophisticated 'trunk tracker' radios.

 

[VA3QRM]

thumbing

Unless RIM comes up with a Motorola-tough version there's no way those little BB's will survive in a public safety environment.

I can see where they'd be helpful but as a BB user myself it's simply a lot more efficient to relay traffic by yacking on a radio than "thumbing" in the message!

......... workman's comp for blackberry carpel tunnel? Coming soon.

 

[Forts]

The City of London signed on for a pilot project with RIM sometime last year. Police, fire and I belive select public works were going to be given Blackberries to use as an interoperatibily device of sorts. And I haven't heard boo about it since. Like it was mentioned above, they aren't the most rugged things in the world. Mine has bounced off the floor a few times and survived but I can't see it living too long in a police officers world. And in a city like London where the PD are already digitally encrypted it really just doesn't make a lot of sense. Plus they have MDTs in the cruisers as well.

 

[rhutch]

Try thumbing in a message while running after a suspect or holding a gun and a flashight on one. I really don't think it will catch on any time soon.

 

[mikewazowski]

South Simcoe Police Service has been using Blackberry's for a couple of years now.

It would be silly to assume that the Blackberry's are a replacement for the standard two way radio assigned each officer.

However, they are a useful addition to the regular equipment.

 

[mikewazowski]

Guys, I've split off the discussion of US laws regarding public safety use of cellphones and unregistered encryption into this thread in the General Scanning forum:

http://www.radioreference.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40975

If you wish to make any comments on that portion of the thread, please do so there.

Discussion of Canadian public safety agencies use of Blackberry's and other devices will continue here.