The police academy in Gramercy Park in New York has suddenly turned into the new Apple store of the city, but it will serve only a special group of people – NYPD cops.
The New York City Police Department (NYPD) cops are quite excited about the new Apple iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus smartphone they are to get as they give up their old Windows Phone-powered handsets.
The two iPhone models are going to become standard issue equipment for NYPD cops. The department has switched to iPhones over the Nokia phones and the rollout begun in Patrol Borough Manhattan South.
Around 36,000 Nokia Lumia Windows Phone units were issued to the NYPD in 2014. All the units will be exchanged for the iPhone models over the course of the next few weeks. The 2014 handout was a part of $160-million plan to modernize equipment used by the police.
However, it took two years for the department to disseminate the Windows Phone. Then, in August 2017, the decision was taken to exchange the existing phone units with iPhones.
The switch to the iPhone models is not going to cost NYPD anything. The upgrade plan is free under the contract between NYPD and AT&T. Around 600 phones are being swapped every day.
With the iPhone being introduced as NYPD's standard equipment, the police will be able to check criminal histories, perform criminal background checks, file beat reports and as well as view video and surveillance photos.
Also, there will be a 911 app installed on the iPhone that will allow cops to listen to calls from the dispatcher before they are sent out over the police radio.
New York Daily News quoted Officer Christopher Clampitt as saying: "We get to the location a lot quicker. By the time the dispatcher puts out the job (on the radio) we're already there."
However, the old Nokia Lumia phones are not going to the garbage dump. The department is wiping the data from the old phones and is planning to sell them back to the company.
