National News
Handheld background checks for NSW police
February 23, 2015 posted by Steve Brownstein
A trial of new smart phones for about 500 NSW police officers means they'll be able to look up the backgrounds, bail conditions and sometimes photographs of people at a few screen taps.
"For criminals, all I can say is `watch out'. This sort of technology will make your life much more difficult and so it should," NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said on Monday.
The devices can also tap into Roads and Maritime Services information for vehicle checks.
Without them, officers would use radios to request information on people and vehicles - a process that can take up to five minutes or longer.
"Sometimes if it's really busy you don't get it at all and you just have to wait or you let the person go without doing a check," one officer said.
"They could have warrants or have bail that they are breaching."
The phones have been rolled out to police including officers patrolling Sydney's train stations and specialist units such as the gang squad.
If the phones are lost or stolen, data stored on them can be wiped remotely.
