For example, carrying a BlackBerry as opposed to a police radio may help police forces multiply their arrest rates, says Michael Brown, director of security product management at Waterloo, Ont.-based Research in Motion (RIM).

“If an officer sees someone suspicious and pulls out his radio, it is obvious he is a police officer. If he pulls out a BlackBerry it’s not so obvious,” he says. Officers are able to access crucial information more discretely.

Nick Dawson, public sector manager at RIM, says many police forces are starting to use BlackBerry smart phones as a tool in their everyday practices. “What if officers aren’t in their cars?” he says, explaining that police officers are no longer chained to the computers in their cars. BlackBerry smart phones allow the police to access crucial information while on foot, on horse or on bike, by allowing essential software and programs to be accessible from their handhelds.

Dawson describes a police officer working in Nova Scotia. “If I’m in Halifax and a ship comes through and blows up, who do we bring in? What do we do? I need to be able to access that information from where I am, I need to be able to call, I need to send e-mails. The BlackBerry platform will allow me to access these tools.”

Research in Motion is able to install virtually any software that an organization may need onto smart phones. With organizations like the FBI and police forces using BlackBerrys, Research in Motion says they know securing information is important.

Brown explains that from the very beginning Research in Motion knew that security issues were just as important as functionality.