April 2016 – SmartForce®’s Blog

Powerful Tools for Law Enforcement

When you boil the concept of law enforcement down to its essentials, there is one quality that organizations around the country depend on to do their jobs on a daily basis: intelligence. When something as inherently fluid as a crime situation is developing, police officers and other professionals depend on actionable, accurate and real-time information in order to make the best decisions possible moving forward.

In a classic case of “be careful what you wish for,” agencies are now responsible for dealing with huge volumes of data above and beyond what they had been familiar with in the past. So much data is being generated at any given moment from a nearly limitless number of sources that it’s difficult to keep track of it all. Luckily, as soon as technology asks the question, it seems to have also provided the answer: hyper-scale cloud computing and agency management systems like SmartForce have come along to help further the law enforcement mission and to empower these organizations with a full range of security and operational needs.

Critical Compliance Standards

If keeping track of a huge influx of data is the number one priority of law enforcement agencies, keeping all that information as safe and as secure as possible is definitely priority number two. Built on the Microsoft cloud, SmartForce takes a rigorous approach to cloud-based compliance as an enterprise cloud services provider. The Microsoft cloud in general sets the standard for not only maintaining and exceeding contractual commitments for the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) security policy requirements, but was also built with all federal, state and local government requirements in mind.

Enterprise Level Security

We live in an era where the average cost associated with a data breach is increasing all the time – according to the Ponemon Institute, the average cost of a single incident rose to $3.5 million dollars during 2015 alone. How many of our law enforcement partners could really withstand that type of financial burden? We understand that for many, this would be a devastating blow that would do little more than get in the way of the hugely important roles that they play in society on a daily basis.

This is another one of the many reasons why SmartForce is built in the Microsoft cloud – for over 25 years, Microsoft has been committed to security, privacy and compliance processes, generating a nearly unheard of experience in terms of both expertise and commitment in terms of delivering the most secure cloud platform possible.

The Comprehensive Solution You’ve Been Waiting For

In terms of hyper-scale cloud computing, law enforcement agencies need to work with a provider that has them covered from every conceivable angle, allowing them to build a true infrastructure that will usher in bold new eras of productivity that will benefit us all. SmartForce and the Microsoft cloud provide law enforcement agencies with all of the cutting-edge capabilities that agency professionals need, from infrastructure as a service to productivity tools like Microsoft Office 365 and more.

This doesn’t just let law enforcement agencies work harder – it lets them work smarter. It creates a situation where law enforcement agencies are no longer required to piece together data from different solutions spread across multiple vendors. They have ONE point of access to distil the capabilities that are already there into one all-powerful force that can act as the trusted partner they need when they need it the most.

The SmartForce Touch

As an agency management system, SmartForce runs on the Microsoft cloud – putting it in the best possible position to allow law enforcement agencies around the country to leverage the power of modern technology and big data to their advantage. It doesn’t matter WHERE your data is coming from – be it standard information-sharing techniques to footage from body camera systems and beyond. All of that mission-critical information is distilled down into one easy-to-manage source, putting the power of data into the hands of the people who work so hard to protect us and our communities.

Never before has it been easier to get the RIGHT data into the hands of the RIGHT people at the RIGHT time, allowing them to glean valuable insight and make the most informed decisions possible moving forward.

Parties interested in the SmartForce™ Agency Management System and how it improves intelligence and community collaboration, click here. After watching the demo video, you are invited to request a free trial of the agency management system to try for yourselves.

Boost Police and Community Collaboration with Solution Already at Your Fingertips

Mariano Delle Donne
CEO

With some law enforcement agencies using Pinterest to post mug shots, Twitter to send out crime alerts and Facebook and NextDoor to reach out to the general public, public safety organizations are recognizing the value of the easy community connections and communication that can come with social media. Traditional social media channels, however, are not without their risks.

An FBI bulletin discussing Social Media and Law Enforcement outlined several potential hazards police may face when using social media platforms. These include public access to employees’ personal information, malicious online attacks, lax comment moderation, and the cloak of anonymity that gives people free reign to post whatever they wish with no fear of repercussions.

An ideal solution would be to preserve all the benefits of social media while eradicating the risks. And that’s exactly what SmartForce did with its Community Collaboration module.

Community Collaboration Module Ready for Action

The Community Collaboration module is part of the SmartForce platform and included with your subscription. The biggest benefit, by far, is the overall ease with which you can reach out, connect, establish and improve relationships with your local community partners.

The faster you get started with the module, the more quickly you’ll see how it can help your agency become smarter and more efficient with both crime reduction and community relations.

Connections and Collaboration

SmartForce lets your law enforcement agency enjoy a secure, two-way conversation with anyone else your agency authorizes to enter the forum. Your agency can then confidently connect with and collaborate on a wide range of projects and issues, sharing:

School safety programs
Business watch
Critical infrastructure protection
Key event planning and coordination
Crime prevention strategies

In addition to sharing specific knowledge, your agency and others in the forum can securely open discussions on topics pertinent to safety, security and of overall importance to the community.

Fortified Forum

While the module is similar to social media channels by allowing for the rapid dissemination of information and sharing, it’s drastically different in the way of security. Traditional social media channels are often open to the general public, with no control over who can view and contribute information.

Even when you set up specific privacy settings within social media channels, there is no guarantee that the information you’re sharing can’t be unlawfully accessed by uninvited parties. The risk that your accounts can be hacked is also greater.

That’s not the case with the SmartForce module. As with all features within the platform, stringent security measures are in place to ensure the information is only accessible by those authorized to view it. Rather than an open arena for the general public, the module functions more like a secure meeting room open by invitation only.

And law enforcement agencies are welcome to invite whomever they choose to join the forum. Secure connections, discussions and collaborations can be established and maintained with:

Other law enforcement and public safety agencies
Local groups and businesses
Schools, churches and other educational and religious organizations
Citizens on patrol and home owner associations
Community partners
Any organization or individual of your agency’s choosing
The Bottom Line on Benefits

Posting questions and opening discussions with community groups can transition from conversations online to targeted patrols on the street. Headquarters can use the gathered information to drive proactive patrol where issues are located, with enforcement beefed up by foot patrols, DUI enforcement zones or other tactics as needed.

The Community Collaboration module can additionally be used as a way to:

Post criminal and crime details
Support community policing
Deliver targeted information
Gather insights and wisdom
Interact with the community you serve

Enhanced community collaboration that results in smarter and more efficient policing is only a few mouse clicks away on your SmartForce platform. Get started now.

Night Mode Browser Extensions for Officer Safety

Gonzalo Cervantes
Product Manager

Most programs, applications, and graphical user interfaces are designed to be bright, look friendly, and appear upbeat. For most entertainment, networking and other common purposes this is fine, but for law enforcement officers traveling in their cruisers at night- darker themes are much more practical.

For police on patrol after sunset, or during other difficult lighting conditions, looking at a computer screen can make a person unable to see what is outside of the vehicle. It could pose a hazard for police who will be temporarily blinded to what is going on outside of the cruiser while their eyes adjust to natural light. Conversely, brighter backlighting and brighter application themes are preferable in the day time for similar reasons.

Google Chrome High Contrast Extension

This simple browser extension allows users to invert the color scheme to make web pages easier to read at night. The high contrast setting lets you browse the Internet using your choice of a selection of high-contrast skin modes designed to be easier on the eyes in different lighting conditions.

Clicking on the icon in the upper right menu bar inverts the colors of web pages, making otherwise blindingly bright black-on-white pages white-on-black or vice-verse depending on what you need for the given lighting conditions. Users also have the option to use an inverted monochrome filter if the colors begin to look strange.

When you install this extension, all pages are “inverted”, so black becomes white and white becomes black. Press the “browser action” icon in the toolbar to toggle it on and off, or customize your settings on a per-site basis. Users may also make use of the convenient keyboard shortcut to quickly change the browser’s settings while running Chrome.

Blank Your Monitor

Firefox offers a similar extension called Blank Your Monitor which inverts the colors for easier night reading. It also comes with a wider range of options than Google’s version.

Other extensions attempt to change the website colors, but they frequently disable many popular websites. Only High Contrast and Blank Your monitor apply filters to your page that can invert most things- except photos without stopping the script and ending your session.

These extensions also come with time-sensitive settings which enable them to automatically change the filter configurations based on the time of day. This frees up officers patrolling at dawn, dusk, after dark, and during starkly bright daytime conditions to look at their computer screens without having to wait for their eyes adjust before seeing what’s going on outside of the car. The automatic settings free them up from having to worry about how to switch filters when the light changes – which could certainly become an issue during long shifts.

When Peace officers are responding to dangerous situations, they cannot afford to waste the critical seconds it can take for their eyes to adjust. These apps are not just a great convenience, they may also save lives.

Adventos SmartForce™

We at Adventos considered the needs of law enforcement and have upgraded our solution SmartForce™ with a night mode theme that uses a palette with dark tones. Doing this, the display shines less and decreases the light emitted by the screen.

Between 6am and 6pm the theme is changed automatically to day mode and between 6pm and 6am is changed to night mode. Users can switch manually clicking a button to switch the theme.

Parties interested in the SmartForce™ Agency Management System and how it improves intelligence, click here. After watching the demo video, you are invited to request a free trial of the agency management system to try for yourselves.

Remaining compliant with CJIS in the cloud

Doug Owens
Director of Implementation

For Law Enforcement, the word “security” is taking on new meaning.

Today, security is as much about protecting information as it is about traditional policing definitions.

With an increasing amount of Law Enforcement information being stored in the cloud, department and public leaders are understandably concerned that the data is secure and protected.

With the SmartForce™ agency management system, you can be confident that your department’s vital data and documents are safe, secure, and compliant. Our commitment to security and protection of customer data is paramount, and SmartForce™ is fully compliant with federal data security regulations.

The need for security

The U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division issued updates to its security policy in October 2015. Also in 2015 the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) issued its own guidelines recommending the use of cloud computing resources. The 12 IACP principles in short, are:

Services must be CJIS-compliant.
All criminal justice information (CJI) storage systems should use the highest common denominator.
CJI storage and collection can be separated.
Agencies should retain ownership of CJI.
Service providers should not analyze stored data unless authorized by the law enforcement agency.
Service providers should regularly audit, or allow law enforcement agencies to audit, use, access, performance and compliance with terms of agreements.
Data stored in service provider solutions needs to be portable and interoperable with other systems without compromising security or data integrity
Service providers must maintain data integrity of agency data and maintain access records that establish an accurate chain of custody.
Service providers must ensure continuity of operations in the case of organizational changes to the service provider.
Service providers must ensure confidentiality of stored data.
Reliability, availability and performance must adhere to agreed-upon metrics. For critical services such as computer-aided dispatch, higher levels of availability and performance may be necessary.
Departments should consider the total cost of ownership.

Remaining compliant

At Adventos, we take the issue of security compliance seriously. Our SmartForce™ agency management system runs on the Microsoft Government Cloud, a set of servers that is CJIS-compliant and has additional security features. In addition, Microsoft has signed the FBI CJIS Security Policy in more than 25 states (and the number is growing) that require information agreements. Finally, our contractual agreement includes Microsoft’s attestation to compliance with the CJIS guidelines.

As a company, we take several other steps to ensure that the data of customer agencies is secure. For example, we do not keep CJI on site. All employees are required to complete training on CJI and background screening is done on those employees with access to CJI.

We understand Law Enforcement’s need to keep and maintain the trust of the communities they serve. With SmartForce™, Law Enforcement can be confident that the data they store is protected, compliant and secure.

4 Ways Police Can Use Smartphones as Part of a Proactive Law Enforcement Strategy

Doug Owens
Director of Implementation

Smartphones are being handed out to officers to enable them to work smarter and safer while policing our streets. Using smartphone technology is not new but the issue of departments lacking a strategy for implementation is widespread. Pilot programs are long over and yet officers and departments are not aware of the full capabilities of smartphones. Consider these elements as smartphones strategies are revamped in police departments.

1. Improve Communication and Officer Safety with Life-saving Apps.

Smartphone applications, such as those through SmartForce™, connect public safety agencies internally and to the community at large. Applications can make it easier and faster for officers on the streets to get the information that they need. The New York Times wrote on the smartphone initiative in Harlem. Officer Tom Donaldson was able to type in a street address in a housing project and pull up names of every resident with an open warrant, arrest record and police summons, apartments with prior domestic incident reports, residents with applicable orders of protection, registered gun owners, and arrest photographs of all parolees in the building. This information will provide valuable intelligence and will help officers be more prepared when dealing with subjects on a daily basis. Detailed SmartForce™ apps offers higher-level intelligence to agencies that is user-friendly and potentially life-saving.

2. Enable Roll-Call Pass-On.

One of the first features to be made available within the SmartForce™ Agency Management System, is used to improve internal communications, such as sharing vital information to the team (Bulletins and be on the lookout, photos and video) in memorable ways, assigning accountability for activities, and spending more time on decision-making and tactical strategy during meetings. All of these electronic entries are searchable and can be filtered for robust reporting.

3. Focus on Agency and Community Collaboration.

An Agency Management System (AMS), is a secure environment created to foster a real-time, two-way culture of information exchange within the department and with the community at large. Possible ways to implement AMS include:

Scheduling meetings in real-time to enable community programs to benefit from the increased speed of secure information sharing.
Establishing secure collaboration sites with key organizations, such as businesses, schools, mental health facilities, HOA’s and other local law enforcement agencies.
Collaborating with leaders, business owners and officers.
Sharing success both internally and to the public.

There is a huge push towards information-sharing with the public and SmartForce™ complements local crime enforcement efforts. Providing officers with a secure platform to contribute within a collaborative communication platform can be a major factor in achieving up to a 25% increase in productivity and engagement. Departments control the type and level of information-sharing available on the SmartForce™ Agency Management System.

4. Help with Body Worn Camera Programs.

An AMS system helps departments implement the Body Worn Camera Program with a streamlined management system of policy drafting, submissions, auditing, and reports. SmartForce™ is capable of including video evidence and uses temporal sequencing technology to record events in a Use of Force report. It highlights effective responses and de-escalation techniques used during an incident. In addition, citizen complaint tracking, training management, video storage, open records requests, and Public Information Officers are supported with the software solution presented by SmartForce™.

Smartphones and a tailored SmartForce™ AMS system enable collaboration and compliance within the department and outreach to communities. Find out more about a FREE trial at www.adventos.com.

The Importance of Document Management in Public Safety

Doug Owens
Director of Implementation

We live in an age where data is more accessible than ever, which can make it difficult to properly manage. The importance of being able to find the right information when you need it the most cannot be overstated. This is particularly true in terms of public safety and law enforcement, where a delay in finding an important document can literally be the difference between life and death. This is one of the main reasons document management systems are so important.

The Risks of Poor Document Management

Nearly every business relies on a steady stream of accurate, timely information in order to do its job. A lack of concrete information often leads to siloed communication where multiple staff members are essentially working on the same tasks at the same time rather than focusing individually on separate issues to help propel an organization forward. Not only does this lead to a dip in productivity, but it can also harm morale in a way that is difficult to recover from.

These issues are compounded when you think of them in terms of the public safety sector, or even the average police department. Oftentimes police departments share documents using traditional file sharing services which, while convenient, does little to offer true efficiency. What difference does it make if a police officer has access to 1,000 newly created files if it takes longer than it should to find the one they need?

Document management is more than just making information available. It’s about providing information to guide decision-making. It’s about making communication not just easier, but more effective than it has ever been. It’s about enabling people to work “smarter, not harder” – particularly public safety employees who NEED that information to protect the communities they serve.

The Benefits of Document Management in a Public Safety Setting

A true document management solution brings a number of unique benefits to public safety organizations, like law enforcement agencies, that can’t be ignored. Not only does it allow for real-time, targeted communication (which can be particularly essential in the immediate aftermath of a crime), but it also helps to confirm that information is being seen and acknowledged by those who need it. It makes sure information flows up and down the chain of command. It allows for all correspondence to be managed from one central point-of-access, easily available to multiple departments or even multiple jurisdictions.

All of this gives way to perhaps the biggest benefit of all: it makes the management of crime intelligence and information such a naturally organic process that real-time, coordinated responses to major crimes can be executed.

Document management isn’t designed to replace existing protocols, however, it is designed to complement them. To make them better than ever. The SmartForce document management solution, for example, runs in tandem with SharePoint – allowing it to not only provide the deep document management functionality that is needed, but also to complement the existing workflow across an enterprise. Anything that SharePoint can do SmartForce can do as well, with the added benefit of including workflows and processes that are specifically designed for the public safety sector.

Public safety organizations in particular are dealing with more information than ever, which is a trend that shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon. Simply having access to documents and data is no longer enough to get the job done – that information must be managed in a way that not only increases efficiency, but also helps people do the important jobs they’re trying to accomplish at the same time. In a public safety setting, document management is a necessary foundation to build better law enforcement agencies, better fire departments and other organizations that help protect us on a daily basis.

Crime Prevention & Reduction Demands Real-Time Information Sharing and the Human Factor

Brian Mc Grew
VP of Education

We live in an age where the volume of data available to us has amassed to such a degree that it presents a unique set of challenges for law enforcement. When dealing with the huge volumes of data, getting the RIGHT information to the RIGHT people as quickly as possible can be a huge undertaking on the best of days. On top of this, the speed at which our environment demands, makes real-time information sharing extremely important and valuable. Many challenging decisions must be made without having all the information needed so having the most up-to-date data plays a huge role in the outcomes of decisions that must be made.

Most law enforcement agencies have multiple data bases and personal email folders they are using to store the volumes of data they are receiving and producing. Since data is housed in disparate data bases and folders, it is very challenging and time consuming to search and access the relevant data that needs to be a part of critical decision-making. From this information overload problem, a solution has emerged that is quickly proving to be an important addition to law enforcement’s arsenal for making communities safer and better places to live.

Illustrating the Challenges of a Big Data World

To understand just how difficult managing massive volumes of data can be, consider the example of a Special Operations Task Force fighting Al Qaeda in Iraq. In the “Situational Awareness Room” you essentially have a perfect visual metaphor for big data – a dozen flat screen televisions, each with their own live feed of some far off location, rooms equipped with communications equipment constantly bringing in new pieces of intelligence, and data and information portals providing updates and “need to know” information that changes by the minute.

How do you cut through all the noise and find what you’re really looking for? How do you keep organized and manage the various moving parts of a fluid situation while it is in the process of unfolding? How do you process this data to make not just a decision, but the most appropriate decision to positively alter outcomes vs. just reacting?

Big Data and Law Enforcement

One agency that is paving the way in terms of both crime prevention and reduction through real-time information sharing and the human factor is the Port St. Lucie Police Department. Here, a team of crime analysts, agency leaders, detectives, and patrol officers fuse information into a centralized forum to contextualize and prioritize incoming crime data. They organize the crime information into patterns, problem locations, major crime, and neighborhood/traffic that they are focused on preventing or reducing during un-committed time. Crime bulletins are crafted to contain the right amount of information and context. Agency leaders decide on which responses to employ based on severity of crime. Detectives, patrol districts, and specialty units are sent information in a targeted manner where it goes to the specific groups of individuals that are best suited to act on it.

Once new information emerges or the context of that data changes, their crime analysts snap into action. They post in real-time updated crime analysis products in their secure SmartForce™ agency management system for the necessary personnel to review. Officers are no longer drowning in emails, but empowered with real-time information targeted to their beats and roles. All police personnel involved in the response see and participate in real-time data sharing and problem solving activities in an organized forum. Information and activity does not fall between the cracks, rather it is collaborated on through the human factor and more speed is achieved in clearing cases, finding missing persons, and resolving “hot-spots.”

The SmartForce™ Approach

The SmartForce™ agency management system allows an agency to organize the massive volume of information, target the information to those who need it most, and facilitate the human factor of real-time dialogue of emerging information and intelligence to speed the achievement of an agency’s crime prevention and reduction goals. What is even more impressive about this agency management system is that it is housed in a CJIS compliant environment and can be used on any mobile device whether in a patrol car, on a smartphone, or back at the station.

We know that technology does not prevent or reduce crime, officers do. SmartForce™ compliments your CAD, RMS, and analytics tools. But the real magic with the SmartForce™ approach is that it combines the human factor in your agency with easily accessed critical data for higher levels of public safety.

For more information or to get a FREE 30 day trial of SmartForce™ contact us at 303-800-5044 or visit our website at www.adventos.com.