NYPD enlists Androids in the war on crime

The New York Police Department has a new weapon on the war on crime, with 400 customised Android smartphones being distributed to officers as part of a new pilot program.

The New York Times reports the new smartphones are locked down so they are unable to make calls, but can search multiple police and state databases with a single search.

With a single search, officers gain access to open warrants, protection orders, properties with prior incident reports, registered gun owners and photographs of parolees

You can see that in this one 14-story building there are thousands and thousands of records,” said one NYPD officer.

“If I see that in the last month, there have been six arrests on the seventh floor for drug trafficking, maybe I want to hang out on the seventh floor for a while.”