by Elliot Mintz | 02/11/2025

Across many industries, frontline mobile workers perform beyond the traditional office setup, tackling daily challenges without the convenience of a desk, keyboard, mouse, and monitor. This is especially true in public safety where duties demand law enforcement officers, fire personnel, and emergency medical technicians (EMTs) to operate in vehicles or on their feet. Technology has evolved along with the expectations of public safety workers from bulky and expensive mobile data terminals (MDTs) to the ergonomic rugged notebooks we frequently see in vehicles today. Efforts to advance past this in-vehicle form factor have experienced slow uptake and limited adoption, but in February 2025, Samsung announced its deployment of 10,000 Samsung Galaxy S series smartphones to the Chicago Police Department with its Samsung DeX mobile desktop and Samsung Knox software. This marks a significant step towards a more dynamic mobile solution for public safety and sets the precedent that the mobile-driven workstation configuration is viable in a large-scale deployment.

The Samsung DeX configuration consists of a Samsung smartphone or tablet in a vehicle cradle, mirrored onto an external display monitor. Often combined with keyboards or optional accessories like scanners, cameras, and signature capture devices for public safety use cases, DeX is less expensive than a typical in-vehicle rugged computer that can average over $2,800 in hardware cost alone¹. With this setup, an officer can step out of their vehicle and take their mobile device with them to run IDs, fill out reports, and record evidence while maintaining contact with dispatch and other team members. When returning to their vehicle, the officer can simply put their mobile device back into the vehicle dock and continue to view necessary information on a larger external display. The benefits of mobile-driven workstations like DeX align well with public safety needs. A 2024 study by VDC Research found that the primary perceived benefits of mobile-driven workstations are portability and ease of use compared to traditional in-vehicle computers.

Despite the clear benefits of mobile-driven workstations like DeX, it took years for Chicago PD to fully implement the solution. “Samsung first partnered with the Chicago Police Department to launch a technology proof of concept in 2018,” and have just now achieved widespread adoption in the department. Due to the mission-critical nature of public safety technology and the literal life-or-death implications, agencies have been hesitant to move on from technology that works, fearing new solutions could disrupt safety and efficiency. Over the past few years, Samsung has worked to address the challenges associated with DeX. Ease of use, which used to be a top deployment barrier for technology decision-makers, is now seen as a leading benefit of the solution. The integration of the Samsung Knox Suite – “Samsung’s enterprise-grade security platform” – simplifies deployment and empowers technology teams to customize DeX configurations based on agency needs. Samsung Knox also addresses Android security concerns that have been a persistent barrier to broad deployment. Many public safety agencies' technology ecosystems run on Windows, making it difficult for DeX to break in. However, there are plenty of opportunities for Android deployments, and the company's success with Chicago PD will influence other agencies to consider DeX as a multi-purpose in-vehicle solution.

VDC Research explores Samsung DeX and more innovative public safety technology in its 2024 AI in Public Safety Report: Driving First Responder Workflow Efficiencies, Safety, and Citizen Engagement.

FOOTNOTES

2024 Rugged Notebooks; September 2024; VDC Research