Motorola Solutions announced a new push-to-talk application for public safety at this week’s International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) conference that expands the reach of P25 networks to smartphones.
The new app, which will initially launch on Android devices in December, allows smartphone users to connect to Project 25 land mobile radio users and talk groups. Motorola said it has been working with Harris County, Tex., for nearly two years on testing how smartphone-based PTT capabilities offer value to government. Harris County is one of the few jurisdictions with a public safety Band 14 system in place. The unified PTT app allows personnel such as a city’s major or public works administrator, or other users who do not usually carry P25 LMRs, to communicate with LMR talkgroups. It also allows bring-your-own-device use for volunteer firefighters or first responders who are off-duty and have access to a smarthphone, but don’t take their public safety radios home.
Motorola also said that the Ventura, Calif., police department is phasing in its solution that uses real-time data and analytics to identify crime patterns and trends. The Real-Time Crime Center consolidates data from multiple sources that would be helpful to first responders and presents dashboard views of an incident for situational awareness.
Motorola said that Ventura is taking a phased approach to features such as its new PremierOne Intelligent Data Discovery service, which analyzes real-time key performance indicators and historical data, as well as allowing integration of data from other city services, such as fire and public works.
“Our initial results using the Intelligent Data Discovery solution provides a significant improvement in our ability to identify crime trends in real-time and more effectively deploy our resources,” said Ken Corney, chief of the Ventura Police Department. “Our ability to customize different views allows us to provide patrol officers, detectives, dispatchers, supervisors and managers with actionable information specifically related to their individual mission. This tool is  a big step forward for our predictive policing efforts which in turn, better protect my officers as well as the citizens of Ventura.”
David Thomas, solutions VP for Motorola Global Solutions and Services, called the IDD “one of the first and best steps” to implement the real-time crime center, and added that “Venture police officers now have a wealth of information at their fingertips to help optimize decision making.”
