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21 www.officer.com April 2014 Law Enforcement Technology SMARTER POLICING ties for improvement were exceedingly helpful," he explains. "The process of sitting down and talking through and describing where there are gaps was extremely helpful." Although the rec- ommendations were doable, that didn't mean they were easy. "The scale of the recommendations was immense," states Roth. "We had some major bar- riers with information sharing, starting with independent offices with their own technology and everyone is busy. You can sit around a table and talk at the end of the day about where there are opportunities to share information but the initial forces are tremendous and it's hard to get traction without having a specific task at hand where we can actually see things happen in a focused way." Another recommendation brought Roth on board as the Chief Performance Officer and brought Chief Sam Dodson to the top leadership role. A police captain with a reputation of being a good cop and a superb admin- istrator, Dodson could view everything through a lens of public safety. "As a result of a year working with the University of Missouri—St. Louis and Sam Dodson, the department is poised as it moves to a new headquarters to leap forward in its use of technology in intelligence matters, and examining what other cities are doing in their intelligence centered policing practices. Public safety is at a point where it's being forced to make fundamental changes. "Using technology will be a necessity," states Lingerfelt. "That's all there is to it." As the recommendations to St. Louis are moving across all the divisions of the city and integrated technology implemented, the city is seeing improvements not only in sta- tistic, but also in reputation. " We're doing better and better," concludes Roth. "St. Louis is steadily becoming a safe city in all its neighborhoods and this has really helped us." Hardware and software platforms offered by companies like Splunk and IBM are helping agencies big and small. " We have worked for many years around the world to help with technology," explains Cleverley. "This is the next continuum of the explosion of tech- nology. Let's look at how we can take advantage of this technology when budgets are being cut and the levels of traditional policing are declining. This is information-based policing. It's not replacing more typical methods—it enhances it." ■ Michelle Perin has been a freelance writer since 2000. In December 2010, she earned her Master's degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice from Indiana State University. 800-GUNHIDE 631-841-6300 Dept #LE44 431 Bayview Avenue, Amityville, NY 11701 We didn't invent concealment, we just perfected it! MSRP Style 033 $ 32 99 • Tuckable 360 C-Clip for unlimited positioning/IWB Carry • Integral belt loop/ OWB Carry • Made from soft non- molded leather with thumb break DUAL CARRY II ® www.desantisholster.com OWB Carry IWB Carry Circle 30 on Reader Service Card LET_16-21_Policing0414.indd 21 3/20/14 9:17 AM