| Law enforcement recently has been following the | | | | source and open information go hand in hand, the |
| general tide of government and public service | | | | system has scaled easily and saved tons of labor. |
| groundswell by seeking computing solutions in the | | | | The force doesn't have to worry about |
| Linux direction. Particularly in law enforcement, | | | | proprietary media formats interfering with the |
| their needs match well with open source | | | | public's ability to access the data, and the |
| software. They have to work lean on a | | | | efficiency of the Linux system allows a lot of |
| taxpayer's budget, and open source is free or low | | | | manual tasks to be automated where they |
| cost. They need top security, and Linux is still the | | | | couldn't before. The system is literally returning |
| highest-scoring operating software in official | | | | officers to the streets because it has saved |
| government assessments. They need | | | | everyone so much work. |
| mission-critical reliability, and Linux is so stable, it | | | | * Police in the city of Munich have switched |
| doesn't just outrank the competition in stability - it | | | | 14,000 of their department computers from |
| makes the competition disappear! | | | | Microsoft's Windows operating system to Linux. |
| Some recent examples of law enforcement | | | | The motivation for the decision was to make the |
| agencies finding a solution in open source: | | | | government less dependent on one information |
| * Kent Police have lowered the cost of running | | | | technology supplier, and to save money while |
| their major criminal investigations system by a | | | | increasing capabilities. One technology analyst even |
| factor of 90% using Novell Linux Open Enterprise | | | | compared the break-through migration to the fall |
| Server. The migration to Novell enabled Kent to | | | | of the Berlin wall, referring to the oppressive |
| scale up their Holmes II investigation system to | | | | requirements of dealing with a proprietary |
| work on larger projects with a broader scope - | | | | software company's agenda. |
| something they'd never been able to do before. | | | | That government feels friendly with open source |
| They were also able to run it on their cheapest | | | | should come as no surprise. Traditionally, the |
| hardware they could find, thanks to Linux's light | | | | Internet has been 80% Linux and Unix-based |
| requirements. A new policing operating system, | | | | systems since its creation. The first Internet |
| named Genesis, is now being tested for scalability | | | | services were started and maintained by |
| on Linux servers. | | | | government providers, who used Unix system's |
| * Delivery of the first Linux systems to the West | | | | built-in multitasking features and excellent speed |
| Yorkshire police force could see police forces | | | | to create a fast, reliable network. Linux, a modern |
| throughout England and Wales unanimously | | | | version of that Unix ideal, has already established |
| switching to Linux desktops in a new pilot scheme. | | | | itself as the leading system for server-room |
| The deployment is taking place under a contract | | | | deployment, but now the effects are beginning to |
| awarded by the UK Police IT Organization. If | | | | trickle down to the desktop user level and |
| successful, it will lead to over 60,000 desktops | | | | workstation deployments, where they are |
| deployed. In West Yorkshire alone, the installed | | | | discovering that Linux systems have |
| base is around 3,500, and a spokesman reckoned | | | | workspace-ready features built in which other |
| that the savings from this would be around one | | | | commercial operating systems are just now |
| million pounds per year! | | | | beginning to discover and implement. |
| * The New South Wales Police department is | | | | Furthermore, Linux systems come with the |
| currently undertaking a major upgrade to its | | | | guarantee that because they are open source, no |
| information infrastructure, made necessary due to | | | | commercial company can restrict their usage in |
| the increasing volume of data handled by the | | | | the future. A platform ported to Linux can stay |
| force, and they're switching to Linux systems to | | | | on Linux, without support dying out and constant |
| handle the load. Because the Linux systems are | | | | upgrades creating problems down the road. |
| proving so reliable, they are looking forward to | | | | Finally, the inherent security of the Unix computing |
| the higher capacity network more efficiently | | | | model guarantees the effectiveness of Linux |
| archiving and transmitting data stored as | | | | without the worries over security problems. |
| evidence, such as surveillance videos and audio | | | | Because there are in effect no viruses which can |
| material. | | | | infect a Linux system known, and no critical |
| * Scottish police forces have also developed a | | | | security exploits found in the systems even by |
| Linux-based system for ensuring that they | | | | government security standards, departments are |
| comply with the Freedom of Information Act | | | | also considering Linux as a measure to protect |
| legislation, an act which is intended to facilitate | | | | our national data under concerns over national |
| 'open government' by allowing the public to | | | | security and the terrorist threat in our modern |
| request access to government data. Since open | | | | times. |