Copenhagen police turn to Macs

The force's Windows-based systems didn’t allow for multiple calls to be open at the same time, and was slow to process data, so operators had to keep paper and pen at their desks “because the system can’t cope.”

“We do not have paper and pens… that’s one of the major advances for Macs, they can handle a lot of calls at the same time,” he said, noting over 40 can be open at once on the current systems.

“We haven’t seen any other system that can do that,” he said.

Major operations

Aside from the daily operations setup, there are three other floors in the centre. One is a local datacentre, running Mac Xserve machines in a RAID 5 setup.

Another floor is for major policing operations, such as this week’s summit. It features more Apple computers, hooked up to a series of massive displays, with 32 screens as large as 55in, so managers can keep an eye on what’s going on using maps, photos, and GPS to send resources to the right places. Data requests can be brought up, and video links patched in from anywhere.

The last floor features workstations for military, ambulance and other emergency services. It uses the same system on a closed network. “That’s so each can see what the others are doing,” said Højgaard.

One major problem with Macs is their price – often more expensive than Windows-based equivalents. That didn’t hold true for for Copenhagen, however. “It was just about the same price, that’s the funny thing,” he said.

The force is yet to turn to mobile policing, but has plans to do so in the future. “They will have [mobile devices], but this system is so new,” that it hasn’t happened yet, Højgaard said, saying the force had its eye on tablet computers.

Photos courtesy Per Gudmann/www.Gudmann.com.

Email to a friend

Print this page