West Midlands Police officers need to be out in the community as much as possible, gathering and sharing information to help protect citizens in order to serve the community. The mobile device fleet must support goals for security of sensitive data, as well as improving officer productivity.
Android Enterprise was chosen by my department as the solution due to its ease of management, security, and compatibility, which allowed it to address the issues that police officers face on the job every day. The force has been able to surpass its mobility goals thanks to the extensive capabilities of fully managed Android Enterprise devices and the assistance of Android Enterprise Gold Partners such as managed service providers (MSPs) like Vodafone. Android Enterprise is going to be the long-term platform for the West Midlands Police Department thanks to its advanced security and new AI-driven enterprise features. safeguarding both citizens and evidence Police departments are entrusted with the collection and secure management of large amounts of highly sensitive data — not only to maintain citizen privacy, but also to preserve evidence so it can be admitted in court during trials. The police department uses private certificates for applications, which are automatically revoked in the event that a device has been tampered with. In addition, the department encrypts all transmissions on fully managed Android Enterprise devices from beginning to end within the department. Limiting app downloads through use of the Managed Google Play store provides additional safeguards against unauthorized app downloads.
Utilizing Android’s open-source nature to develop robust solutions with direct API integration for numerous use cases, West Midlands Police maintains complete control over the technology stack. In addition, the apps’ chosen priority mode ensures that both the operating system and the applications are updated promptly at all times. In point of fact, we believe that Android Enterprise is one of the most secure options available to the department. With complete control of hardware features and data loss prevention, there are no issues with meeting the high bars set by our external security advisors.
Gains in productivity for employees and IT As AI becomes more prevalent in the workplace, West Midlands is on the verge of a transformative era. The force anticipates achieving remarkable productivity gains for officers and staff by implementing AI throughout the organization. AI on Android makes it simple to reimagine a future where procedural guides are more user-friendly and efficient than the time-consuming, multi-query decision trees currently in use. With the help of Gemini and NotebookLM, our technology team sees the potential to improve these workflows, making them easier to understand and more effective for our field teams. This will not be merely an incremental improvement; rather, it will represent a significant advance in the manner in which teams access essential information and function with increased speed and clarity. Our pre-installed custom applications and AI’s collaborative potential have the potential to significantly boost officer and staff productivity. Leaders at West Midlands Police envision a time when officers will be able to directly access vital procedural guidance and instantaneous, secure access to police records on their Android Enterprise devices. This will empower them to spend less time on administrative tasks at the station and more time engaging with citizens in the community, ultimately fostering stronger public service.
In addition to these advancements, Android Enterprise’s inherent manageability further simplifies IT operations and significantly reduces support requirements, both of which are crucial for a team supporting 14,000 employees in dozens of distinct roles. The use of the Android Enterprise OEMConfig tool allows us to easily set security and functionality policies, linking them to Active Directory groups or custom configurations. The time required to provision a device has been reduced from three hours to just 15 minutes as a result of this significant streamlining of the process of deploying new devices and reassigning existing ones.
In addition to deployment, Android Enterprise has resulted in a significant decrease in support requests. Previously, support requests were 80% problem-related and 20% feature-related, but now they are 60%-70% feature-related, indicating significantly fewer issues. Partnering with the community to serve West Midlands Police has seen first-hand that establishing and managing a mobile fleet of our scale requires close collaboration with skilled MSPs and suppliers. MSPs are now required to obtain Gold Certified Partner status due to the police force’s strong commitment to this partnership strategy. Vodafone, a long-time partner, recently achieved this distinction.
This helps to guarantee best-in-class product validation, advanced technical expertise, and superior customer service directly endorsed by Google, maximizing every advantage for staff and officers. It also ensures that the police force remains deeply integrated into the broader ecosystem of Android Enterprise. With more than 14,000 officers, West Midlands Police has collaborated with Vodafone on a crucial digital transformation for more than a decade. This collaboration has created an agile workforce and significantly enhanced public service by delivering secure, real-time data connectivity and comprehensive managed services via Vodafone’s network—a network also trusted by 77% of UK emergency services for its speed and security. Officers can now focus more on direct community engagement because they can now capture witness statements or evidence from a crime scene directly on their devices. Are you ready to improve enterprise mobility? Browse the Android Enterprise Solutions Directory to find validated Silver and Gold Certified Partners who are proven experts in securing and managing your business’s mobile fleet.
