The usage of smartphones will advance the safety of citizens as these devices can be used for capturing data and communicating with First Responders real time to prevent a threat.
Companies and public organizations are already adopting intelligent devices such as smartphones and tablets for making their activities more efficient and cost-effective, according to Frost & Sullivan (News - Alert) report.
Frost & Sullivan estimates that the number of smartphones shipped annually will reach 500 million units by 2015.
“The presence of smart mobile devices in our societies will become increasingly ubiquitous, not only for communications and entertainment needs, but also for other uses in our daily lives,” said Saverio Romeo, Frost & Sullivan Senior Industry Analyst for Information & Communication Technologies group, in a statement.
Citizen engagement with First Responders and smartphone usage in crime prevention is not a new concept. People have used smartphones to record crimes and provided the evidence to successfully prosecute.
iWatch Dallas offered by the police department can be accessed through iPhone, Blackberry, Android and Symbian (News - Alert) platforms. The department provides citizens with guidelines about what to report and the information received is processed at the intelligence gathering unit, where decisions are taken on whether officers should be deployed to follow-up on the tip.
Runnymede Police, UK, launched a new application to improve engagement with residents. The app allows residents to view what crimes are happening in their area and provides live updates and the action the police are taking.
Privacy concerns are likely to impact adoption rates. The high level of video surveillance in the U.K. suggests that there would be higher acceptance of leveraging smart phones to empower the citizen than other European countries where CCTV and privacy is a concern.
Recently, Visiongain (News - Alert) announced that the mobile security market will reach $3.95 billion in global revenues by 2016.
Rajani Baburajan is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Rajani's articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by Jennifer Russell