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