Police accessing their work email at home ???

Los Pollos Hermanos · Feb 20, 2016

Just a quick query for my Big Continuity Edit, pretty please.

I got my background info from:
http://www.panynj.gov/police/about-police.html

It's September 2009 and two PAPD detectives (minor characters who make three short appearances) are aiding the hunt for Mr Bad Guy. They contact JFK Airport with the time parameters they've been given from the UK and ask for footage of Mr Bad Guy's arrival (his alias has been rumbled), which is initially supplied as a series of still images.

Now to the question: Would one of the detectives be able to log on to their work email from their home? Or, would they have to be at work to access the system? Either would be fine, but ideally having access from home would be better.

Cheers in advance,

LPH.

T Robinson · Feb 20, 2016

Yes. AVW, Alternative Virtual Workspace is one term. People work from home all the time.

ironmikezero · Feb 20, 2016

It will depend upon the agency/department's official policy regarding remote access to otherwise restricted/protected data. If you want to be as credible as possible, contact the Port Authority PIO and ask.

It may be pretty important to get this right. It's a bit of a hot issue (politically) at the moment with a certain presidential candidate having past issues with remote access to classified material and storing it in an off-site private server.

T Robinson · Feb 20, 2016

With that in mind, consider them having a work-issued laptop that is set with heavy-duty encryption that is designed for remote access wherever they are. Perhaps there are settings for view-only for the remote access? Not a techie.

WeaselFire · Feb 20, 2016

The officers I supported had laptops issued for a long time, then management decided to cut the laptops to only use in the cars and field. We ended up granting access to the email system for use off duty (they get emails from the court system so they have to have the access) and, for those who were approved, used VPNs to get them to the network. We also granted email access on smart phones, tablets and just about everything else you could think of. Changes the work for the IT security guys (Me), but you have to let people get their job done.

Jeff

PeteMC · Feb 20, 2016

I don't know anything about the police but I work for a government security-cleared corporate and I can work from home on company equipment using a VPN and a two-part authentication token, and also get my email on a mobile with some company security policy software installed on it that lets them nuke the thing from orbit if it's lost or stolen.

Los Pollos Hermanos · Feb 20, 2016

Lots of useful info here, folks! Many thanks and I'll store it up for future use as my next story will be set in the present day (there's allegedly logic behind me setting this one in 2009). For this story, I wimped out of contacting the Port Authority and went back to change an earlier chapter to say one of the detectives had fired off a quick email before she'd left the office.

I'm such a wuss...

Police accessing their work email at home ???

Los Pollos Hermanos

Craving the next chocolate hit...

T Robinson

Born long ago, in a different era

ironmikezero

practical experience, FTW

T Robinson

Born long ago, in a different era

WeaselFire

Benefactor Member

PeteMC

@PeteMC666

Los Pollos Hermanos

Craving the next chocolate hit...