Android app lets NYPD cops see everything from arrest records to CCTV positions

Photo: New York Times

Over 400 New York cops have been given Android phones running an app that lets them access pretty much anything they might need to know while on the street – from arrest records to the locations of CCTV cameras with a view of a spot where a crime has just taken place …

The New York Times says the pilot scheme provides faster access to data than patrol-car laptops. Among the data the cops can pull up are:

Arrest warrants & records
Incident records
Protection orders
Suspect records

So, for example, when stopping a felon on the street, cops can see that he is known to hide drugs in his left sock. They can also do location-based searches, like pulling up photos of everyone arrested in a particular building.