At a secret Global Police Summit held by Apple at its Cupertino headquarters, police officers from seven countries learned how to use a host of Apple products, including the iPhone, Vision Pro, and CarPlay, for surveillance and law enforcement operations.
By Thomas Brewster, Forbes Staff
TTwice in the past five years, Apple has hosted closed-door conferences for law enforcement agencies around the world, gathering officers at the tech giant’s Cupertino headquarters to discuss how best to use its products. forbes I learned.
The latest event, called the Global Police Summit, was held over three days at Apple Park in October 2023. It took place in advance of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) conference in San Diego that year, according to emails obtained by . forbes Through a public records request to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD).
Apple is perceived to have a combative relationship with law enforcement after the company refused to help the FBI hack into the iPhone of the shooter in the 2015 San Bernardino terrorist attacks. It’s spreading. But since then, we have increased cooperation with law enforcement through meetings and other meetings with government agencies both at our Cupertino headquarters and our Elk Grove campus, as well as increased police use of iPhones, Macs, Apple Vision Pro, and CarPlay. We also support various projects that have not been reported on before. , will be displayed in the email. Most of these projects are not publicized.
Apple declined to comment.
“I’ve been in law enforcement for about 36 years, and I’ve never been part of a more collaborative effort.”
Matthew Guariglia, senior policy analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said Apple’s largely secretive collaboration with police means that providing technology for police surveillance is inherently inconsistent with privacy marketing. He said that this shows that the company is aware that it will do so. “These companies want to have their cake and eat it too,” Guariglia said. forbes. “They want to have a reputation for protecting users’ data, and they’re willing to do so at the expense of their relationships with law enforcement, but at the same time the development of technology for law enforcement is billions. We also recognize that it’s a dollar-sized industry.”The United States spends an estimated $100 billion on policing each year.
said Gary Oldham, who led Apple’s global strategy for public safety and emergency services until August and hosted the Global Police Summit. forbes The first event was held in 2019, and subsequent events were canceled due to the coronavirus until the 2023 conference. As many as 50 law enforcement personnel from seven countries, from Australia to Switzerland, attended the event, where Apple held listening sessions with engineers to discuss app development on its various platforms, and how police use Apple technology. I gave a presentation.
“This year’s topics include customer agencies sharing their successes, innovations, and lessons learned.” Apple’s email to attendees about the 2023 event includes CarPlay, collision detection, satellite It will include Apple’s presentations on new products and features useful to law enforcement agencies, including Via Emergency SOS, Vision Pro, and more.
Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief and Chief Information Officer John McMahon said the event demonstrated how police agencies around the world were “far ahead of American police departments and police departments.” He said it was one of the most informative police conferences he had ever attended. Use of technology and mobilization through it. ”
“I’ve been in law enforcement for about 36 years, and I’ve never participated in such a collaborative effort with colleagues from all over the world,” said McMahon, who also presented at last year’s event. Ta. forbes.
One of the more memorable talks at the 2023 event came from the New Zealand Police Service, which outlined how they worked with local developers to build an iOS app to store and access police information, Oldham said. said. The app, called OnDuty, is connected to national intelligence databases and makes it easy to search for data such as location, license plate number, and a person’s criminal history. Other iOS apps used by New Zealand Police provide situational awareness and whether the person of interest is known to frequent the area or if it is a place where previous crimes have occurred. is displayed to officers, according to presentation slides provided to New Zealand Police. forbes By New Zealand Police.
The New Zealand Police presentation detailed several initiatives using Apple technology.
new zealand police
Mr. Oldham, a former police officer, said he grew Apple’s public safety market share from about 10% to 70% in the markets it serves around the world. He said on his public LinkedIn page: “We have increased our market share to over 80% in many countries and achieved 100% public safety market share in four countries.”
According to emails obtained from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, Apple’s cooperation with law enforcement appears to have been closest with neighboring agencies in California. In an email, Oldham said OCSD, LAPD, San Diego County Sheriff’s Office, and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) are all “actively doing great work on our platform.” In the meantime, agencies have been deploying and testing apps for a variety of Apple products, from Vision Pro to iPhones and Macs, whether for access to surveillance data or basic communications. Ta. Oldham was trying to set up a meeting with other Southern California agencies to deepen the use of Apple technology across the state’s police force.
as forbes As previously reported, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department tested Apple’s Vision Pro VR headset to create a virtual version of its surveillance data hub, which the agency calls a real-time operations center. The department became interested in using Vision Pro in March after learning that the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Emergency Operations Division was using VR tools, according to the email. Then, an Instagram post in September showed LASD using Vision Pro devices to display maps and incident management tools to respond to emergencies.
Ritz Sherman, an Apple staffer who has worked on the company’s government projects since the late 1980s, brought the two government agencies together, according to the email. Orange County later acknowledged that: forbes I purchased Vision Pro to try out this technology. The Los Angeles Police Department is about to begin piloting Vision Pro for surveillance operations, according to public records. “All display monitor room and command post operations can be done with one goggle,” said Deputy Chief McMahon.
“Apple’s ecosystem all works very well together.”
Police are also interested in Apple’s CarPlay, which turns a car’s entertainment dashboard into an iOS screen. The email includes details that the LAPD, Orange County, and LASD will organize a meeting with executives from automaker Ford at an IACP event in October to discuss the use of CarPlay. Orange County Police CIO Dave Fontenot previously said: forbes He was considering switching all police vehicle laptops to Apple CarPlay on the police vehicle dashboard. “Apple’s ecosystem all works together very well,” he said. Mr Oldham said US government agencies were interested in emulating the implementation of CarPlay by Western Australia Police. At Western Australia Police, officers use Siri to access police data and update police stations with incident updates. McMahon said there’s also a safety aspect, as the metal parts that hold laptops in place in cars have injured and killed police officers in traffic accidents in the past.
But Apple’s approach to police outreach may be changing. In July 2024, Mr Oldham told his police clients that he had not secured funding for the 2024 Global Policing Summit, but hoped it would become a biennial event. A week later, he emailed California State Police again, telling them he was leaving the company without giving a reason. Mr. Oldham declined to comment on the reason for his departure.
Police now hope Apple will reconsider hosting the summit. “We’re very disappointed that, for whatever reason, we weren’t able to do that again this year,” McMahon said.
Even if Apple permanently cancels the event, police remain keen to increase their use of the company’s tools. After being informed of the cancellation of this year’s conference, Orange County’s Fontenot wrote to Oldham, “This was one of the important events we all look forward to each year,” and later added, “This year’s Android event “I’ll probably go there,” he quipped.
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