Police and Protective Services Officers will spend less time stuck at their desks and more time out in the community, thanks to new high-tech mobile devices.
The devices - one of the biggest technological changes to frontline policing since radio systems in patrol cars - will begin rolling out from the middle of the year.
After a competitive tender process, technology giant Motorola Solutions Australia has been chosen to deliver more than 10,000 iPhones and iPad minis to the force.
Motorola will also provide mobile network services, mobile applications and support services.
The devices will be used to capture evidence, carry out identity checks and swiftly report crime and other events like traffic incidents.
The Mobile Technology Project is part of the Andrews Labor Government’s $227 million investment in police technology.
The technology will enable officers to have a greater presence in the community, by spending more time proactively policing in the field and less time being station-bound, filling out paperwork.
Those who will have access to the devices include general duties members, PSOs, transit safety division, family violence units and highway patrol units.
The rollout extends to the 3135 new police to be recruited, on top of normal recruitment levels, and deployed over the next five years.
Police will issue the first devices in the middle of the year, with 8,500 deployed by the end of 2019 based on operational need – and more than 10,000 within five years.
They will unveil the first phase of the system later this year.