Issue link: https://let.epubxp.com/i/286869
17 www.officer.com April 2014 Law Enforcement Technology SMARTER POLICING M uch like the day public safety had to put down the pencils and cards and move to the keyboard, emergency service faces major changes in the way things are done. Other industries jumped light-years ahead of law enforcement in their ability to utilize technology successfully. Today public safety is coming up from behind. With a changing geographic permeating the force, and major companies working towards making hardware and software match what law enforcement needs, we're seeing a change in the model of police work moving from traditional policing to information-based policing on small and large scales. Connecting the dots Not much has changed about policing since the first officer walked the beat tasked with maintaining the peace. Within this realm, the community expects its agency to assess, control and prevent crime. Through tradi- tional means, officers have relied on a knowledge-base built from observa- tion and communication with other officers and experts in their field. The importance of this hasn't changed. W hat has is the advancement of tech- nology helping officers connect the dots faster. "At Chandler (Ariz.) Police Department, they were doing things manually," states Splunk Director of State and Local Government John Zarour referencing their software plat- form. "Historically, they had to print out different reports and sift through them. Today, all that data goes into Splunk in real time and gives them the ability to look at it which saves money." All the data is automatically entered into the software and officers see customized dashboards which improve their opera- tional intelligence. "They will be able to see trends and detect anomalies and other things," explains Zarour. Chandler Officer Nate Jacobs believes technology is one part of good policing. "It gives an opportunity to use good, solid data to make the best decisions," he says. "Before decisions were based purely on intuition." Utilizing the Splunk platform, Chandler developed and provided patrol officers with resources to see crime hot spots within their beat. By doing so, officers can address them in traditional ways. New generations of officers have come to expect this kind of technological support. Technological generation Younger generations of officers are more comfortable with technology and finding more exciting ways to apply it states John Lingerfelt, Public Safety Lead, Smarter Cities, IBM. Lingerfelt spent 17 years with the Metropolitan DC Police Department, including being assigned the Chief Intelligence Officer before retiring and entering the com- mercial technological business. The new officer has the ability to imagine and adapt technology to whatever they want it to do. "We'll put a tool out there for A, B and C and very rapidly they will extend its functionality to do E and F," he states. "That's exciting to watch." This generation grew up with the Internet and is more tech savvy. "That's the new paradigm of how work gets done—not just in policing," explains Mark Cleverley, Director of Public Safety, IBM. "Access to huge computing power is normal. These people are more used to having these sorts of tools at their fingertips. Over time those skill sets will merge. A police officer will have all applicable analyst skills and patrol skills. It's fast moving and has quick potential." Like Splunk, IBM is assisting with the movement and potential of technology within public safety. i2 Intelligent law enforcement IBM offers a variety of products in support of law enforcement goals and duties. Platforms such as i2 Intelligent Law Enforcement's CopLink and Analyst's Notebook allow officers to develop investigative leads and calculate data very rapidly. It takes information from police reports and witness state- ments and develops relationships, pat- terns and allows comparisons. "Beyond those two products," states Cleverley, "We're looking at integration that looks IBMÕs Smarter Cities Challenge made 27 recommendations, including the promotion of key personnel such as St. Louis Police Chief Sam Dodson. LET_16-21_Policing0414.indd 17 3/20/14 9:17 AM