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NYPD Defends Use of Windows Phones as It Switches to iPhones

posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday August 30 2017, @04:51PM   
from the tsk-tsk-Tisch dept.

takyon writes:

The New York Police Department's Deputy Commissioner of IT has defended the department's purchase of $160 million worth of obsolete Windows phones after a New York Post article criticized the "boondoggle". The NYPD plans to switch to iPhones:

On Monday, Jessica Tisch, NYPD Deputy Commissioner of information technology, wrote a scathing defense of the NYPD's choice of Windows phone.

The two-year project wrapped up in October and cost $160 million. It put Windows phones into the hands of all 36,000 officers.

The NY Post's Tina Moore originally reported on the change with the headline: NYPD needs to replace 36K useless smartphones. In the article Moore points out:

"Just months after the last phone was handed out, officials plan to begin replacing them all with brand-new iPhones by the end of the year, sources said."

This clearly didn't sit well with Tisch. She penned a retort that extolled the virtues of the Windows smartphone program, while also confirming that the NYPD has given up on Windows in favor of iPhones.

The smartphones purchased were the Lumia 830 and Lumia 640 XL.

Blog post defending the use of Windows phones. Also at New York Magazine, The Register, and Mac Rumors.

Older article about the "crime-fighting phone".

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Original Submission

• Rather an articulate response (Score: 3, Informative) by krishnoid on Wednesday August 30 2017, @06:24PM

  by krishnoid (1156) on Wednesday August 30 2017, @06:24PM (#561629)

  If you read her whole letter, it sounds like her division planned the whole thing out pretty well. 45% below budget is really good. I bet they would have held onto them if Microsoft hadn't killed the phone.

  The smartphones have made our cops smarter, faster, and more agile in their response to 911 calls, with response times down more than 8 percent. Whether it’s the parent whose child has gone missing, the driver who needs a copy of an accident report, or a domestic violence victim whose life may be saved by a faster emergency response,

  Or the person who needs to get beaten down [youtube.com], or some other shifty-looking character who needs closer examination [youtube.com]...

  the smartphone program has made the NYPD, already New York’s Finest, even finer.

  Now, and into the future [theinfosphere.org].

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