Enabling UK Police Officers to Print Tickets, Penalty Notices and Receipts on the Spot

A UK police force required mobile printers for its officers to use with smart devices.

The smart devices combined with mobile printers allow officers to work in processes that issue tickets or leaflets such as conditional offer fixed penalty tickets for RTA offences, delivering advice to victims of crime and fixed penalty tickets for anti social behavior.

In the past, all these forms had to be carried separately and hand written. The combined weight of a smart device and printer is less than that of the books and forms officers used to have to carry.

The Ap1300 Bluetooth enabled mobile printer from Able Systems was selected as the best solution following rigorous field-testing by the force.

Able’s engineering team developed an enhanced level of security from their existing Bluetooth module to meet the standards defined by the National Police Improvement Agency (NPIA). This involved changing the PIN requirements from 4 to 8 (or more) digits and adding functionality to allow the user to switch the printer into an ‘undiscoverable’ mode after it had been paired – making it impossible for an open Bluetooth link to be hacked.

Able also devised bespoke packaging to assist the force’s training team who wanted to give each officer two boxes at the start of each training course – one containing their smart device and one containing their printer equipment. Able created a kit containing a printer, a quick start guide, an AC adapter and two rolls of yellow paper. Two rolls were provided so that officers had something to practice with and the paper was yellow to avoid members of the public confusing tickets with till receipts and throwing them away, or claiming so in court.

The police force chose to work with Able Systems and placed an order for 3,000 mini printers.