Brian Mc Grew
VP of Education
Today’s 21st Century Policing occurs in Conjunction with the Community
Imagine a secure, real-time, two-way and targeted communication method internally and with the community you serve. Imagine being able to connect more closely and collaborate with retailers, schools, hospitals, and other law enforcement agencies.
Well, it’s possible today with an Agency Management System (AMS). An AMS is a secure environment that can build, maintain, and foster a culture of information exchange and collaboration, both internally and with the community you serve.
An AMS, in a Police environment, can contain shared Community Collaboration sites which makes it easier to share information within the agency as well as with its partners in the community. For example, interaction relegated to once-a-month meetings can be conducted in real-time, so community programs can sustain momentum and blossom from the increased pace of information sharing and collaboration. By opening communication in a secure manner with an Agency Management System, the chance of misunderstandings is reduced and there is less wasted time and resources, due to improved coordination, communication, and transparency.
To create a culture of empowerment and trust within your agency and the community, here are some considerations:
- Adopt an Agency Management System that can allow you to set up secure collaboration sites with key organizations, such as schools, churches, mental health facilities, citizen’s academies, retail business districts, HOA’s, and other local law enforcement agencies.
- Assign Ownership and Foster Collaboration between leaders, owners, and assigned officers.
- Share successes internally and through your Public Information Officer externally in regard to intelligence sharing, collaborative crime reduction efforts, project results, strategic initiatives, improved relationships, and feelings of safety.
Enable your Officers by Trusting and Leading Them
An Agency Management System can help extend the network of an officer internally or externally by his or her experience, specialty, skills or interest. Patrol officers for example may have key information relevant to a case in the criminal investigations unit and just need a communication platform that makes them aware of the need for their information so they can share it. Or maybe there’s an officer with particular skills in your agency that could be a resource to a neighboring agency. For these situations and more, allowing and trusting officers to contribute through a collaborative communication platform is a major step toward achieving a potential 25% increase in engagement and productivity.
Lead by example, not by exception. If you want more people to respond to communications or shared knowledge, show them how easy it is. One way Management can lead by example is to use a collaborative tools like an AMS to conduct command staff business.
A Collaborative Culture is Built in Phases
We like to talk about the concept of crawl, walk, run, just like a youngster becoming mobile. Start your collaborative efforts with a small step that has a high probability of success. Ask yourself, “what key organization would benefit and deliver value to your agency if you opened up a secure, on-line communication channel”? “What kind of written, photo, or video information would they like to receive or send to your agency that would be important or time-saving to them”? After asking yourself these sorts of questions, start sharing that information and responding to questions through an AMS.
Not All Information and Collaboration Has to Be Visible to Everyone
As collaboration becomes the norm in your agency, people will want to collaborate on sensitive projects. They will want to share content, but will not want it to be visible to anyone outside of an invited group. This can be done with an AMS that grants permission to specific team members to access these content areas.
Policing Should be Evolutionary, Not Static
Processes, policies, and procedures not only inform employees what to do, they keep people safe too. In today’s law enforcement environment, new policies and systems must be designed that allow for and teach how secure collaboration with the right internal and external partners can provide even higher levels of public safety and trust.
A demonstration of how the SmartForce™ Agency Management System securely connects to key community organizations or to see SmartForce™ in action with a free 30-day trial, please visit www.adventos.com.
