December 2016 – SmartForce®’s Blog

The Crime Reduction Problem: A Technology Perspective

Even though we have faster computers and more information than ever, you would think that law enforcement agencies would have more speed and success at reducing crime. Unfortunately, this is not the case in many U.S. cities as crime and threats continue to climb. Some reasons are:

Increasing numbers of text, photo, and video data bases that are not integrated with a common search feature
Poor search engines that can’t search inside pdf documents or text narratives
Lack a comprehensive system for communicating, tracking, reporting, or assessing crime reduction efforts. Most LE agencies only have systems for calls for service, reporting crimes, and case management
No system for multi-jurisdictional collaboration and sharing of crime data.

To reduce crime in today’s environment of exponential increases in text, photo, and video data as well as increased population to officer ratios, it requires speed to search and access data, speed in providing direction to patrol on where crimes are happening, and ease of assessing activity and results. Without speed, crime patterns are not addressed early enough to disrupt or stop the patterns and crime continues to rise.

The Technology Solution

Only invest in technology that has the capability to solve 2 or more of the challenges listed above so you can add more speed into your agency. No longer can you or your agency get a return on investment of buying another software program that operates in a silo and only solves 1 problem. We must kill more than one bird with a stone and acquire software you can continue to grow into.

If you are trying to align and direct patrol with real-time information and intelligence for improved crime reduction, you may want to check out the new features of the SmartForce™ Agency Management System from Adventos. SmartForce™ provides a force-multiplier system for communicating, tracking, reporting, and assessing crime reduction efforts that can also share crime data with neighboring LE agencies. Click here to check out a short video of the SmartForce™ crime reduction features or click here to read a PoliceOne article on how the Port St. Lucie Police Department uses SmartForce™ to reduce property crimes by 20+% year over year.

Response to Resistance (RtR), a new approach to Use of Force

Mariano Delle Donne
CEO

If you had to make a list of all the controversial topics in the world of law enforcement, the use of force would be right at the top. This has only intensified in recent years as the term itself, along with what is acceptable when employed, are constantly evolving.

At Adventos, we have made an effort to incorporate the concepts of “Response to Resistance” into our entire SmartForce™ suite of products because we understand that every interaction our officers have with the public could be scrutinized. This is true regarding internal teams as well as external agents such as the media. Therefore, law enforcement agencies across the nation are fast adopting the principles we set on “Response to Resistance” which are:

Transparency
Accountability
Accessibility

Transparency

Internal procedures and checkpoints have been increased in the last few years in all law enforcement agencies in the United States. There is understandably a sense that law enforcement agencies must do everything in their power to increase visibility of what offices are doing in our communities and be ready to provide all level of details almost instantly.

Accountability

The core functionality of SmartForce™ allows for each officer to be held truly accountable for every action they take, both good and bad — the way it should be. This means they have to adhere to appropriately stringent polices when it comes to “Response to Resistance.” As a result, agencies must provide a reliable, effective way for officers to track each interaction and record the results. The idea is to gather real-time or almost real-time information, and analyze the data to improve future outcomes.

SmartForce™ provides a new avenue for law enforcement agencies to do precisely that on a daily basis. Moreover, this information can and should be used to drive better, more effective, and more holistic training opportunities moving forward.

Accessibility

Make no mistake: We now live in a mobile world. The days of waiting to get back to HQ to file reports are now gone. Internal Supervisors, as well as the public, expect information to be available almost instantly. At Adventos, we provide immediate access to our “Response to Resistance” application from anywhere there is an Internet connection. This includes MDC’s, Tablets and Smart Phones.

All these principles must be incorporated into any solution that is attempting to record and analyze interactions. What we learn from “Response to Resistance” now will have an enormous the impact on officers and the communities they serve.

We at Adventos are proud to provide the only such solution in the market today that does all of this and more. We designed SmartForce™ and our “Response to Resistance” suite using feedback from law enforcement agencies across the nation to make sure we facilitate tracking in the most effective, user-friendly and fair way possible. The ultimate goal is to be able to learn from each interaction, analyze the individual circumstances of each case, and improve the outcome for both officers as well as suspects.

To learn more about the current and expanding features of SmartForce™ Agency Management Solution (AMS) developed in collaboration with our customer and Agency partners, please visit our Website at www.adventos.com.

Fountain Police Department and SmartForce™ Team-up to Maximize their Re-organization

Brian Mc Grew
VP of Education

Fountain PD re-organizes and introduces SmartForce™ technology. Both of which break-down walls leading to better communication and better policing. Lt. Coates comments and explains their new motto, philosophy, and strategy for 2017. Click here to read more.

What better policing strategies and tactics are you implementing in 2017? Please share….

PIO Need Better Tools

Mariano Delle Donne
CEO

Public Information Officers, commonly referred to as PIOs, are the communications coordinators who working diligently with law enforcement agencies, fire departments, local and state governments, school districts and more who provide mission-critical information to the public on a regular basis.

In essence, it is their job to keep us informed. When we need to know something, they’re the ones that provide it with us. They play a pivotal role in everything from standard day-to-day operations to public emergencies and everything in between.

And unfortunately, they need better tools. Or at least, tools that are better than the ones they have right now.

The PIO Problem

The main reason why PIOs need better tools than the one that they have now stems from a general misunderstanding about the work they do daily. The job of a Public Information Officer is NOT simply to pass data from “Point A” to “Point B.” It actually extends quite a bit deeper than that. They’re not a spokesperson or a public relations professional – they need open and secure lines of communication with the communities they serve. They need to not only communicate but COLLABORATE, both internally and with the surrounding areas.

Presently, the technology that many PIOs rely on leaves a lot to be desired to say the least. These systems are simply not set up to respond to incidents in fast, effective and smart ways, to say nothing of the lack of organization required to build their culture and showcase all of the great work that goes on in the world of law enforcement (not just the “bad news” that is so commonly reported by the press).

Simply put, we at Adventos believe that PIOs need a tool that will allow them to do all of this and more. They need something that not only gives them the ability to do the work they need to do, but HOW they like to do it.

And thankfully, we’ve just given it to them.

The Public Information Officer Module

The Public Information Officer module in SmartForce was designed from the ground up with a simple word in mind: empowerment. PIOs have access to all the data they need to communicate and collaborate with their communities in the safest and most effective ways possible right at their fingertips.

The “Contacts” list includes category fields like “News,” “Social Media,” Liaison,” “Community” and more, allowing them to instantly share the right data with the right people at the touch of a button. The “Media Kit” is a fully functional document library supporting all of today’s most commonly used formats, making sure that absolutely nothing is lost in translation.

Creating customized press releases is also a breeze, as the “Press Releases” list in the PIO module includes criteria like:

Type of Incident (user editable)
Date Prepared
Incident Location
Cause of Incident
Additional Hazards
Status and more

The “Feature Stories,” “Incidents,” “Social Media” and “Other Documents” document libraries were also designed with this goal in mind. They’re intended to help PIOs get organized, compile the most actionable, valuable data at their fingertips so that they have everything they need to make the most informed choices moving forward.

But able all else, the “Public Information Officer” module is simple. We believe that PIOs should have the ability to work smarter, not harder, which is one of the reasons why we at Adventos are champions of the idea that a 21st century job like a PIO should have access to the latest and greatest 21st century tools at the same time.