Locative Media & the ´Groninger´ Police

At this moment 30 policemen of Korps Groningen are being trained in the use of a handheld computer which gives the user all kinds of information on the site he surveils. The I-Pac, as the device is called, will give the policeman a warning when he passes a house of which the occupier has unpaid fines, a criminal history, or is wanted. The policeman can acces data of any past criminal activity in the area he visits, and send data to headquarters like a call for backup. Spokesman Pieter Boomsma thinks that backup will arrive faster because the I-Pac gives the exact location of the officer in need. The Groninger Police is the first policedepartment in the world to use such a device. When the use of the I-Pac is a succes, the handheld will be given to all policemen in the Netherlands.