In Public Safety, communication during a response to an incident can truly be a matter of life and death. The method of communication can also dictate whether an agency achieves success or falls short when responding to crime situations.
Email is still the dominant communication method to share crime analysis products, communicate crime reduction strategies, and implement responses in public safety.
However, in this article we explore the dangers of email in public safety responses and recommend a better solution agencies can use to add speed, accountability, and safety to their communication efforts. Implementing our recommendations will greatly reduce your agency’s risk inherent to communicating crime intelligence through email and increase the utility of your crime products and results.
Communications about Crime Prevention Responses should be “Active”
Email is a passive” form of communication. Often, emails are deleted before they are ever read or stored in folders never to be found or acted upon again.
Communication of crime intelligence products and crime prevention responses should be ”active.” To make these communications active, they should be assigned to appropriate teams of officers to perform desired responses during uncommitted time with feedback loops on their activities, additional intelligence discovered, and results. E-mail is not assignable and falls short on driving accountability since it is often heard that someone “didn’t get the email,” “didn’t see it,” or “thought someone else was working on it.”
Analysis must be Targeted
Email serves the broad purpose of informing many people, but crime analysis sharing should be targeted to the select group of officers responsible for reducing targeted types of crime. The risk of sending crime products to all officers through email is that the intelligence products become “white noise” that are tuned-out or not fully utilized.
Crime Intelligence should be managed in a secure CJIS environment
Email communications are not secure. Data transferred through email can easily land outside an agency with one wrong click or by other means. We once worked with a customer that made a “fat finger” mistake sending a criminal intelligence email that resulted in information being leaked into the public domain. The suspect mentioned in the email, who was later found to be innocent, was brutally attacked by citizens in the community trying to avenge the victim. The police department wound up paying a large dollar settlement because of their email mistake. While this result is extreme, too often emails wind up in the public domain carrying the potential for very negative results.
Organizations must communicate more intelligently
Email is typically a one-to-many communication mechanism and therefore does not place accountability on the individuals receiving it. Individuals tend to scan their emails and catalog or delete them based on the importance to their current shift. Assumptions are often made that another person or unit is taking action on a particular email. Actions and responses often fall through the cracks and incidents take longer to resolve. Our experience tells us that most organizations are swimming in email and most officers are overwhelmed by it.
The complexity and demands on law enforcement are growing at an ever rapid pace. Agencies can’t afford to operate on antiquated communication platforms that bog them down or produce “white noise,” especially in our post-Ferguson era.
What’s the alternative to using email?
Newer communication tools have been designed for the rigorous security demands and accountability needed to boost crime reduction efforts. We recommend switching your crime intelligence communication platform to a web accessible intranet site hosted in a CJIS compliant environment. Agency Management Systems like SmartForce™ are designed for 21st century policing strategies and provide the security, accountability and mobility needed to help agencies communicate “actively” to prevent or reduce targeted crime. Crime analysis products are securely distributed and accessible on a secure portal and from a smartphone. Intelligence products are tagged or assigned to specific teams to carry out the desired response. For example, a crime analyst discovers a motor vehicle burglary pattern in Beat 3 and creates an intelligence product. She uploads the bulletin, photos, and/or video into the agency management system and only assigns it to Beat 3 and the Street Crimes Unit. Upon seeing the new pattern, the Beat 3 supervisor assigns directed patrol to his officers to conduct during their uncommitted time. Officers in Beat 3 and the Street Crimes Unit share their activity, intelligence, and results of their efforts on secure discussion threads until the incident is closed.
At the core of an intelligent and agile organization is both strategy and the right tools. Take steps today to limit your risk of e-mail pitfalls in crime intelligence sharing and increase your impact on crime reduction results.
About SmartForce™ by Adventos
SmartForce™ is the first CJIS compliant and mobile agency management system designed to account for uncommitted time and to drive current policing strategies. SmartForce™ also provides a single platform for integrating and automating all law enforcement administrative processes outside of CAD and RMS.
