Today, Targus – a mobile computing accessories company – announced new research revealing more than double the number of police forces across the UK have equipped their officers with smart devices, to enable flexible working styles, compared with five years ago.

This data – obtained from a Freedom of Information (FoI) request issued to the 45 territorial police forces across Britain, with 19 responding – also revealed that half of the forces plan to increase the number of smart devices issued to officers in the future.

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Just this year, the responding forces issued nearly 20,000 smart devices to officers alone. Yet, as recently as two years ago, 16 per cent of those forces didn’t issue any devices at all.

In contrast, this year has seen a 265 per cent growth rate in the number of devices given to officers. This has helped better equip them for their roles, reducing the burden of travel to and from the station to complete operations. Overall, forces across the UK have issued 64,815 smart devices since 2012.

Nikos Liapis, Regional Sales Director, Large Enterprise EMEA at Targus, said: “We champion the police forces’ commitments to enable their officers to address crime and public safety in a more efficient and effective way, through technology. By ensuring officers are spending more time on the beat and less time in the station, forces are taking proactive steps to improve the safety of our everyday lives.”

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“Issuing smart devices ensures officers have access to information, data and intelligence, enabling them to carry out the most important elements of their role, whether they’re in the station or on the move.”

“Alongside this, organisations that issue smart devices are more likely to see engagement from workers, by promoting a positive and flexible working culture, critical to the performance across teams.”