Chris Arvayo – SmartForce®’s Blog

Turning Challenges into Clarity: How CitizenContact Tackles Homelessness, Drug, and Mental Health Issues

Chris Arvayo
Head of Government Compliance Initiatives

Why Stop-and-Contact Data Matters Now More Than Ever

In 2024, 771,480 Americans were unhoused—a staggering 18.1% jump from the year before. Fentanyl fueled 70%-80% of opioid-related deaths, and states like Virginia and Colorado mandate detailed reporting on police contacts that can be used to address these crises. Collecting and reporting stop-and-contact data is essential for transparency, helping agencies understand interactions, ensure fairness, and meet legal requirements. We’re with you—how can your team rise to this? We added Tags to CitizenContact® last month, and early data shows “Unhoused” is already a significant tag—higher in the last 7 days than the 7 days before. This blog shows how to take tag usage to the next level while streamlining data collection and reporting.

Unveiling the Crisis: Homelessness, Drugs, and Mental Health in 2024

The numbers tell a tough story. Homelessness hit a record high in 2024, with 771,480 individuals counted—a single-year increase of 18.1% from 2023 (1). Of these, 36% lived unsheltered, up 14% since 2020, driven by a housing shortage that’s left 12.6 million households spending over half their income on rent (1) Families and seniors bear the brunt. Drug trends worsen the picture: synthetic opioids like fentanyl accounted for 70%-80% of opioid-involved deaths from 2021-2024 (2). Methamphetamine use is prevalent among some unhoused individuals, often employed as a survival tactic, though the majority of homeless people do not regularly use drugs (3).

Mental health deepens the challenge. Research shows 25-30% of unhoused individuals have serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, a trend over the last decade (4). These conditions often intertwine with substance use, making contacts complex.

States like Virginia and Colorado have implemented laws to collect and report stop-and-contact data, focusing on transparency in police interactions. Virginia’s Community Policing Act requires data on all motor vehicle, pedestrian, and investigatory stops, while Colorado’s SB20-217 mandates reporting on law enforcement-initiated interactions—both covering a significant amount of police contacts. These laws emphasize demographics, stop reasons, and outcomes, making stop-and-contact data collection and reporting critical. CitizenContact not only meets these legislative requirements but goes further—adding data points like mental health, drug, and alcohol impairment, alongside features like Tags, Areas, and Groups. This enriched data lets agencies gain deeper insights into issues like homelessness and mental health, especially when paired with the right context.

How CitizenContact Transforms Stop-and-Contact Data into Action

With Tags, officers categorize interactions instantly—think “Unhoused” or “Fentanyl”—while CitizenContact tracks mental health, alcohol, drug, and crisis details, feeding reporting and analytic dashboards with real-time insights on interventions and trends.The Areas feature uses geofencing to let agencies configure hotspots, patrol boundaries, encampment zones, and more, pinpointing clusters like downtown mental health calls to guide deployments. The Groups feature organizes teams—CIT, patrol, or specialty units—tracking performance and service connections in real time. More than tech, it’s a tool to master data, meet and exceed legislative mandates, and deliver actionable insights.

Strategic Steps to Maximize Data Effectiveness

Here are three steps to leverage CitizenContact—perfect for new adopters or users optimizing their setup:

Build Comprehensive Insights into At-Risk Communities

Configure the “Unhoused” tag to track interactions with unhoused individuals, ensuring stop-and-contact data includes key details. Enhance this with Tags like “Service Referral Provided” to log connections to social services, “Shelter Transport Provided” to track relocations to safe housing, and “Repeat Contact” to identify individuals with frequent interactions, signaling potential unmet needs. Pair these with the Areas feature to deploy mental health or outreach teams where they’re needed most, addressing root causes effectively.

Address Critical Behaviors with Targeted Precision

Set up a “Fentanyl” tag to flag suspected use or distribution, leveraging drug impairment data in the contact report. Add complementary Tags like “Trespassing” to monitor related activities in high-risk areas, often linked to drug use, and “Public Complaint” to capture community concerns about drug-related incidents. Combine these with the Areas feature to map drug zones or complaint hotspots, then send CIT, patrol, or proactive policing units to intervene, reducing risks and enhancing safety in the community.

Optimize Operations with Data-Driven Strategies

Use CitizenContact’s reporting and analytic dashboards to review tag trends, pulling insights from your stop-and-contact data. Seeing a surge in Unhoused contacts tagged with Repeat Contact or Mental Health Impairment? Shift patrols or partner with mental health services to break cycles of crisis. Have you noticed Fentanyl and Trespassing Tags clustering in specific areas? Adjust resource allocation to address underlying issues. This mirrors the SARA model (Scan, Analyze, Respond, Assess), tailored to your data.

These steps turn raw data into real results—whether you’re starting fresh or refining your approach.

Unlock Smarter Policing with CitizenContact Today

Stop-and-contact data requirements under state mandates in places like Virginia and Colorado won’t wait, nor will the pressing issues of homelessness, drug challenges, and mental health. With CitizenContact, your agency doesn’t have to play catch-up on meeting these mandates for collecting and reporting stop-and-contact data. New to the tool? Contact us today to see how Tags, Areas, and Groups—plus our added impairment tracking—can transform your operations, ensuring compliance while unlocking deeper insights. Already onboard? Optimize your tags and contact reports now to enhance policing strategies, building on the early success of the Unhoused tag. From challenges to clarity, CitizenContact is your partner in building safer, compliant communities—let’s make it happen.

Cited Works

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. (2024). 2024 AHAR: Part 1 – PIT estimates of homelessness in the U.S. HUD User. https://www.huduser.gov/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/2024-AHAR-Part-1.pdf
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2024, December 5). Detection of illegally manufactured fentanyls and carfentanil in drug overdose deaths — United States, 2021–2024. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 73(48). https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/73/wr/mm7348a2.htm
Assaf, R. D., Morris, M. D., Straus, E. R., Martinez, P., Philbin, M. M., & Kushel, M. (2025). Illicit substance use and treatment access among adults experiencing homelessness. JAMA. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2024.27922
Padgett, D. K. (2020). Homelessness, housing instability and mental health: Making the connections. BJPsych Bulletin, 44(5), 197–201. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjb.2020.49

Bridging Data and Trust – How CitizenContact’s Tags Feature Strengthens Modern Policing

Chris Arvayo
Head of Government Compliance Initiatives

Why Data Alone Isn’t Enough

Policing has always been about more than just enforcing the law. It’s about trust. It’s about communities feeling safe, knowing that officers are there not just to respond to crime, but to prevent it—and to do so fairly, effectively, and transparently.

Technology has given law enforcement agencies more data than ever before, and with the right tools, it has also given uniformed patrol officers more time to concentrate on proactive policing initiatives. But raw data without context and clarity? That’s just numbers on a screen. What agencies really need is a way to track the story behind those numbers—to see the patterns, to evaluate strategies, and to show the public how law enforcement is working in their best interest.

That’s where CitizenContact’s Tags feature comes in. It’s not just another data tool; it’s a way to turn routine contact reports into real insights—insights that improve decision-making and build community trust.

How the Right Data Changes the Game

Let’s be honest: No law enforcement professional wakes up thinking, “I need more paperwork.” The challenge isn’t just collecting data—it’s making that data useful.

With CitizenContact’s Tags feature, every police-community interaction can be categorized in a way that makes sense for officers, supervisors, and command staff alike. That means:

Better Tracking of Proactive Policing – Are hot spot patrols making a difference? Are DUI Task Force related stops providing valuable insights into enforcement effectiveness and deterrence efforts? With tags, agencies can see the impact of their initiatives—not just hope they’re working.
Smarter Resource Allocation – When leadership can quickly filter and analyze stop-and-contact data, they can adjust deployment strategies in real time instead of waiting for the next CompStat meeting to course-correct.
Greater Transparency and Trust – Community members want to know that policing is fair. Tags allow agencies to track trends and address disparities before they become a crisis.

Real-World Policing: Why This Matters on the Street

Picture this: Your department is getting pressure from the city council about the way traffic stops are being conducted. The media is asking for numbers. Community leaders want to know if there’s bias in how stops are made.

Instead of scrambling, imagine being able to pull up tagged data in seconds—showing exactly how and why stops were conducted, what areas were targeted for public safety concerns, and how the department is responding to real-time crime trends. That’s the power of structured data.

Or take drone-assisted responses and ALPR-related police contacts. Your agency has invested in drone technology to help locate missing persons faster, track down suspects or persons of interest more efficiently, and improve tactical awareness and ALPR technology to identify vehicles linked to crimes and outstanding warrants. The question is: Does it work? With tags, you can track every drone-assisted contact and ALPR-related police contact and analyze the geographic and demographic impact of these tools. This data helps law enforcement understand how these technologies affect different areas and communities, ensuring policing efforts are both effective and fair while also justifying continued funding with clear evidence of success.

This isn’t just about keeping records—it’s about making smarter, more informed decisions that impact real people.

Building a Future of Trust and Efficiency

Policing is evolving. The days of reactive, report-driven policing are giving way to data-informed, proactive strategies that emphasize accountability and community engagement. But to do that effectively, agencies need the right tools to track, evaluate, and communicate their efforts.

CitizenContact’s Tags feature is more than a checkbox for compliance—it’s a way to connect officers, command staff, and communities through data that actually means something. It allows agencies to:

Show their work – No more guessing. Every initiative, from mental health crisis response to traffic safety operations, can be documented and analyzed for effectiveness.
Make real-time adjustments – When leadership can see what’s working (and what’s not), they can adapt strategies immediately, not months down the road.
Strengthen public trust – When agencies can prove their policies are fair, transparent, and effective, trust follows. And in today’s world, trust is just as important as enforcement.

The Bottom Line

This is about more than data. It’s about smarter policing, stronger communities, and better leadership.

CitizenContact’s Tags feature gives law enforcement agencies the power to track what matters, fix what’s broken, and tell the real story of modern policing—one that’s based on facts, fairness, and proactive decision-making.

It’s time to stop letting others define the narrative. Own the data. Own the conversation. Own the future of policing.

Ready to see the impact for yourself? Contact us for a demo today.

The Virginia Community Policing Act: Challenges, Trends, and Recommendations for Success

Chris Arvayo
Head of Government Compliance Initiatives

The Virginia Community Policing Act, enacted in 2020, is a significant initiative aimed at fostering trust and transparency between law enforcement agencies and the community. The Act mandates that agencies statewide collect and report traffic and investigative stop data, including demographics, reasons for stops, and their outcomes. By offering insights into policing practices and addressing disparities in demographic information, this initiative has the potential to enhance the relationship between law enforcement and the community [1].

Effectively interpreting and using stop data is essential for achieving the transparency and goals outlined in the Act. Drawing on years of practical experience in law enforcement and extensive engagement with research and policy developments in this area, I thoroughly examine the trends, challenges, and opportunities revealed by four years of reported data. This perspective aims to offer analysis grounded in operational realities and evidence-based practices [2].

Four years of data reported under the Act allow for analyzing trends and identifying challenges that impact law enforcement operations and public trust. Stop and contact data provides valuable insights. However, interpreting it requires a nuanced understanding of the factors influencing policing practices. These factors include resource limitations, technology gaps, regional variations in enforcement priorities, community demographics, and crime patterns [3].

Urban areas often face higher call volumes, greater population diversity, and concentrated policing activities. In contrast, rural regions may struggle with challenges due to limited personnel covering vast geographic areas. Suburban areas typically experience a mix of urban and rural dynamics, leading to policing strategies tailored to local needs.

Understanding these regional differences is essential for adequately interpreting data and drawing meaningful conclusions that reflect the unique circumstances of each community. Research on rural crime and justice highlights these distinctions by emphasizing how geographic isolation, cultural influences, and resource limitations shape law enforcement practices across different settings [5].

Background: Virginia’s Community Policing Act

The Virginia Community Policing Act, signed into law in 2020, aims to enhance transparency and accountability within law enforcement. Acknowledging the need for reliable data to address concerns about bias and fairness in policing, the Act requires law enforcement agencies across Virginia to report detailed information on all traffic and investigatory stops. These reports must include key data points such as the driver’s demographics, the reason for the stop, whether an officer conducted a search, and the outcome of the stop [1].

Additionally, the Act mandates the annual analysis and publication of this data to identify potential disparities in policing practices and to assess public complaints regarding excessive force. Under the legal framework established by the Act, the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) is responsible for compiling and analyzing the data. At the same time, individual law enforcement agencies are tasked with ensuring compliance in their reporting [2].

To promote transparency, the Act requires the police chief of each locality to post traffic stop data on a publicly accessible website. If no dedicated site is available, the chief must ensure that the data is accessible on another platform or provide clear instructions on how the public can obtain the data. This requirement underscores the Act’s commitment to making law enforcement practices more open and accessible to the community [3]. However, the implementation of the Act has faced significant challenges. Many smaller agencies, which comprise a large portion of Virginia’s law enforcement, struggle with limited staffing, resources, and technological infrastructure, hindering their ability to meet the requirements of the Act. For instance, 74% of local law enforcement agencies in Virginia have 50 or fewer sworn officers, with 36% employing 10 or fewer [4]. These resource limitations often result in incomplete or inconsistent data reporting.

The challenges faced by Virginia’s agencies reflect a broader issue in law enforcement across the nation. A guidebook released by the Center for Policing Equity and the Policing Project at NYU School of Law highlights that inadequate technical infrastructure is a key barrier to effective data collection and analysis for many agencies. It emphasizes that robust data systems are essential for collecting accurate and actionable stop data, which is critical for fostering transparency and equitable policing practices. Many agencies lack the resources to implement standardized systems, leading to disparities in the quality and consistency of reported data [6].

While the Act represents a significant step forward, understanding its impact necessitates carefully analyzing the data it generates. This includes identifying trends, interpreting disparities, and addressing the contextual factors influencing enforcement practices. As this blog will demonstrate, a deeper exploration of the data reveals both the potential and the complexity of using stop-and-contact data to promote fair and effective policing.

Trends in Virginia Stop Data

Over the past four years, traffic stop data collected under the Virginia Community Policing Act has revealed important trends that provide insight into law enforcement practices and their impact on communities. These trends highlight both areas of progress and ongoing challenges that require further context to address appropriately.

Volume of Traffic Stops

The total number of reported traffic stops in Virginia has varied yearly due to legislative changes, agency compliance levels, and public behavior. In 2023, over 949,000 traffic stops were reported statewide, representing a significant increase from previous years. This rise reflects improvements in reporting processes and expanded data collection efforts by law enforcement agencies [4].

Demographic Disparities

An analysis of the data consistently shows disparities in the racial and ethnic composition of individuals subjected to traffic stops. For example:

Black Drivers: In 2023, Black drivers accounted for a disproportionately higher percentage of traffic stops compared to their representation in the driving-age population [3].
Hispanic Drivers: Certain jurisdictions also reported overrepresentation of Hispanic drivers in traffic stop data [4].

These findings raise important questions about the contextual factors influencing these disparities, including enforcement priorities, regional crime rates, and variations in driving patterns.

Geographic Variations

Traffic stop data reveals significant variations between urban, suburban, and rural areas. Urban jurisdictions typically report higher volumes of traffic stops due to greater population density and enforcement activity. In contrast, rural areas often show lower reporting levels, which may reflect resource limitations and smaller populations [2].

Outcomes of Traffic Stops

The outcomes of stops — including warnings, citations, and arrests — also vary by demographic group. For instance, Black and Hispanic drivers are more likely to face searches and arrests following traffic stops compared to White drivers. According to the report, this trend warrants further investigation into potential disparities in enforcement practices [3].

Challenges in Data Collection and Reporting

The data collection and reporting requirements of the Virginia Community Policing Act have exposed significant challenges for law enforcement agencies throughout the state. These issues are not exclusive to Virginia; they reflect broader systemic problems in law enforcement data management nationwide. Over the last four years, several key challenges have been identified:

Inconsistent Reporting

A persistent issue has been the inconsistency in data submissions. Many smaller agencies struggle to meet the Act’s requirements due to limited staffing, training, and technical infrastructure. Sometimes, data submissions have been incomplete or excluded from analysis due to missing key fields or formatting errors [4].

Resource Limitations

Most of Virginia’s law enforcement agencies are small, with 74% employing 50 or fewer sworn officers and 36% employing 10 or fewer. These smaller agencies often lack the necessary resources to implement effective data collection systems, train personnel, and ensure compliance with reporting requirements [4].

Technological Gaps

The absence of standardized, statewide electronic data collection systems has forced many agencies to rely on manual processes, which can lead to errors and inefficiencies. This technological gap exacerbates the challenges of maintaining high-quality data and complicates practical efforts to analyze trends or disparities [3].

Balancing Transparency and Administrative Burdens

The requirement to publicly post traffic stop data creates additional administrative burdens for agencies, especially smaller ones. Ensuring that the data is presented in a way that is accessible and meaningful to the public demands resources that many agencies may not possess [3].

Actionable Recommendations

Addressing the challenges in collecting and reporting traffic stop data under the Virginia Community Policing Act requires a comprehensive approach. The following actionable recommendations aim to improve data accuracy, streamline reporting processes, and enhance public trust.

Implement an Agile and Standardized Data System

To tackle the complexities of data collection and ensure adaptability to legislative changes, agencies should invest in a scalable and flexible data system that supports evolving needs.

Validation and Accuracy:

The system should feature tools that minimize errors during data entry, allow reports to be amended with a clear audit trail, and ensure data integrity through systematic error correction and regular audits [6].

Real-Time Access for Supervisors:

Front-line supervisors should have real-time access to stop data for actionable insights. This enables supervisors to:

Monitor officer activity to ensure alignment with agency objectives.
Provide timely feedback to officers regarding performance and adherence to procedures.
Discuss data trends with community stakeholders to address crime reduction and neighborhood safety concerns.
Insightful Analytics: Supervisors can leverage stop data to:
- Respond proactively to community concerns about specific crime patterns or neighborhood safety.
- Identify patterns of stops based on officer assignment and geographic area.
- Enhance community engagement efforts based on data insights.
- Allocate resources effectively to align with agency priorities and community needs.

Customization and Privacy Protection:

Agencies should be able to customize data collection, such as tagging stops in specific hotspots or enforcement areas, while ensuring the anonymization of sensitive information to protect individual privacy [7].

Integrate Training and Policy Updates on Data Use:

Agencies should integrate training programs with updated policies to ensure adequate stop data use while maintaining transparency and community trust.

Policy Updates:

Develop clear policies outlining how stop data will be used internally for operational decision-making and externally for public transparency.
Include guidelines that support community engagement initiatives using insights from the data [3].

Training Programs:

Train stakeholders, such as supervisors and analysts, to interpret and communicate data insights without overwhelming front-line officers.
Incorporate real-world scenarios to demonstrate how stop data can be effectively utilized in public engagements and internal decision-making

Capture and Leverage Geographic Location Data

Incorporating detailed geographic data enhances the understanding of policing patterns and supports strategic decision-making.

Strategic Insights:

Analyze stop data by patrol area, district, or hotspot to evaluate the effectiveness of enforcement strategies [8].
Use geographic trends to allocate resources efficiently and monitor the impact of policing initiatives on crime reduction.

Public Engagement:

Share geographic data with community stakeholders to enhance transparency and provide context for enforcement priorities.

Create Agency-Specific Public Dashboards

Dashboards tailored to an agency’s needs provide valuable transparency and community collaboration tools.

Customizable Features:

Include visualizations of geographic trends, demographic breakdowns, and outcomes of stops.
Provide explanatory notes to help the public interpret data in context and avoid misconceptions [9].

Agency Ownership:

Design dashboards to reflect local priorities, enabling agencies to demonstrate their unique efforts and achievements.

Encourage Ongoing Evaluation and Adjustments

Adopting an iterative approach to data collection ensures continuous improvement and adaptability.

Feedback Mechanisms:

Solicit input from community members and law enforcement personnel to refine data collection and reporting practices.

Data Reviews:

Regularly evaluate the data quality to identify improvement in data collection and align with public expectations.

Conclusion

The Virginia Community Policing Act marks a significant advancement in enhancing transparency and accountability within law enforcement. Over four years of implementation, the data collected under this Act has revealed important trends, challenges, and opportunities for improvement. Although the process of gathering and reporting traffic stop data is complex, it offers a valuable basis for addressing public concerns regarding crime, fairness, and bias in policing.

Key findings from the data emphasize the need for ongoing attention to disparities, particularly in the impact of traffic stops on different racial and ethnic groups. Challenges such as inconsistent reporting, limited resources, and technological gaps highlight the necessity of investing in solutions that improve the quality and usability of the data. Agencies can tackle these challenges by adopting agile data systems, capturing geographic insights, and promoting transparency through tailored dashboards while fostering more substantial connections with their communities [3].

This blog provides an analytical overview of the data and challenges and actionable recommendations for enhancing data collection and reporting processes. When combined with thoughtful policy updates and continuous training, these steps can help agencies align with the Act’s fairness, transparency, and accountability objectives [6].

This journey requires collaboration among law enforcement agencies, policymakers, and community members. By leveraging the insights presented here, agencies can better understand their practices, reduce crime, address disparities, and continue building community trust. Every step forward signifies meaningful progress toward building stronger, safer communities where safety, transparency, and fairness are foundational to public safety.

Author: Chris Arvayo — Head of Government Compliance Initiatives @SmartForce®

Chris retired as a sergeant after 21 years of service with a major city police department. Over the past four years, he has specialized in law enforcement stop data collection, reporting, analysis, and ensuring compliance with legislative mandates. If you’d like to discuss insights or strategies related to this topic further, feel free to reach out to me at chris.arvayo@smartforcetech.com.

Cited Works:

Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services. 2021 Report on Traffic Stop Data Collected Under the Virginia Community Policing Act. https://rga.lis.virginia.gov/Published/2021/RD420/PDF
Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services. 2022 Report on Traffic Stop Data Collected Under the Virginia Community Policing Act. https://rga.lis.virginia.gov/Published/2022/RD533/PDF
Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services. 2023 Report on Traffic Stop Data Collected Under the Virginia Community Policing Act. https://rga.lis.virginia.gov/Published/2023/RD340/PDF
Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services. 2024 Report on Traffic Stop Data Collected Under the Virginia Community Policing Act. https://rga.lis.virginia.gov/Published/2024/RD440/PDF
Weisheit, R. A., & Wells, L. E. Rural Crime and Justice: Implications for Theory and Research. https://nij.ojp.gov/library/publications/rural-crime-and-justice-implications-theory-and-research
Policing Equity. Guidebook on Stop Data Implementation. https://policingequity.org/images/pdfs-doc/COPS-Guidebook_Final_Release_Version_2-compressed.pdf
Project on Government Oversight. Best Practices for Law Enforcement Data Collection and Transparency. https://www.pogo.org/policy-letters/best-practices-for-law-enforcement-data-collection-and-transparency
COPS Office. Geographic Analysis Guide. https://portal.cops.usdoj.gov/resourcecenter/content.ashx/cops-w0558-pub.pdf
Policing Project. It’s Time to Start Collecting Stop Data. https://www.policingproject.org/news-main/2019/9/27/its-time-to-start-collecting-stop-data-a-case-for-comprehensive-statewide-legislation

SmartForce® Early Intervention System

Chris Arvayo
Head of Government Compliance Initiatives

Having a reliable, cutting-edge early intervention system allows a police agency to effectively monitor the risk and wellness of their police officers, impacting the safety of the community they serve and protect.

An effective police leader knows that having a clear picture of an employee’s performance can prevent problems from arising and allows quick responses to address the problems when they do arise.

Introducing the SmartForce Early Intervention System. A cutting-edge tool that provides law enforcement leaders a real-time look at an officer’s risk, allowing for timely intervention when it is needed.

The Early Intervention System has an intuitive user interface that allows Command Staff to set the risk and intervention tipping point related to complaints, crashes, pursuits, and response to resistance reports generated in our SmartIA software.

The user interface alerts the user to the types of activity the officer is involved in as soon as the officer is added to one of the reports in SmartIA

Toggle between risk and timeline view.

Add intervention notes, and collaborate with other members of the command staff, to ensure risk is properly managed.

With the SmartForce Early Intervention System, manage risk, drive accountability, ensure officer wellness, and increase public trust. Thank you for your commitment to making your community safer.

Human Trafficking and Major Crimes: Microsoft and SmartForce™ by Adventos

Chris Arvayo
Head of Government Compliance Initiatives

Human trafficking, child exploitation, and similar major crimes are unfortunately all too common in the modern era. According to the Polaris project, the national human trafficking hotline has received more than 22,191 reports of sex trafficking cases in the United States since 2007 alone. It is estimated that as many as one in six endangered runaways likely become sex trafficking victims. Globally, there are approximately 4.5 million people trapped in these types of situations, according to the International Labour Organization.

As industry leaders, Adventos takes our commitment to law enforcement and public safety agencies around the country and the communities they serve very seriously. Therefore we’re so pleased to announce that, as a result of our partnership with Microsoft, Adventos is rolling out a Major Crimes Investigation Management System that will integrate effortlessly into our existing SmartForce™ Solution.

Introducing: The Major Crimes Investigation Management System

This system was built in collaboration with investigators across the country. This will help agencies manage, organize and conduct complex investigations such as human trafficking, child exploitation, homicide and organized crime more efficiently. Adventos designed, built and deployed the system, which is now available for nationwide use by Law Enforcement, to guarantee the maximum positive impact to public safety. The system will be hosted as part of the Microsoft Azure Government Cloud, which is CJIS compliant, allowing it to grow organically via their vast networking capabilities. This will instantly link federal, state, local, tribal, and campus law enforcement agencies in a powerful and secure way.

Managing tips and leads in a major investigation can be a challenging process. Law enforcement agencies commonly use web based software to intake tips from the public. Unfortunately, utilizing a non-CJIS compliant digital workspace to manage tips and leads is not a viable option. A CJIS compliant, web based environment is required to properly store, track, assign, and collaborate during a major investigation. The Major Crimes Investigation Management System created by Adventos does just that.

Some of the features included in the new Major Crimes Investigative Management System are:

A centralized, secure location for tracking ALL investigations.
Complete visibility, allowing investigative units and command staff to track and assign leads as they are investigated.
Unique views for leads by status and assignment.
Investigative supervisors can add or remove internal or external members of an investigation as the need arises.
Tasks and action items can be assigned to the right people instantly, allowing everyone to take important actions as quickly as possible.
Activities and follow up can be managed and organized so that the appropriate resources can be allocated appropriately.
Tracking and linking of investigative assets such as witnesses, suspects, associates, anonymous tipsters and media assets.

Many innovative features have also been included that are designed to make these types of major crimes investigations easier and more efficient than ever before. Templated forms and document libraries help save precious time in a situation where every second counts. Law enforcement agencies at every level can now easily collaborate with one another in a secure and effective way, tracking complex investigations that are constantly changing. It even includes the ability to link to specific investigations with rich text and all other forms of relevant media.

At Adventos, we want nothing more than to do our part to help the hardworking men and women of law enforcement keep us safe each day and we believe that our new Major Crimes Investigation Management System will do precisely that.

If you have any additional questions about the Major Crimes Investigation Management System, or if you’re eager to learn more about the SmartForce Agency Management System (AMS), please don’t delay – contact Adventos today.

SmartForce™ Shift Briefing by Adventos

Chris Arvayo
Head of Government Compliance Initiatives

21st Century Communication and Collaboration For 21st Century Law Enforcement Agencies

Law enforcement agency personnel understand the unique challenges of running traditional in-person shift briefings. Individual workload, pending calls for an oncoming shift, and administrative duties such as training and court appearances often prevent members of the squad from attending briefing. In a typical work week, you would be incredibly lucky to have even a single briefing where every member of the squad was actually present.

This doesn’t mean that shift briefings are any less important. Far from it: a quality, proactive agency depends on an open and real-time stream of communication to get things done and to achieve better, more effective outcomes. For the continued success of law enforcement agencies around the country, along with the safety and security of communities they serve, we must apply the most current technology to community policing and problem oriented policing models.

Luckily, thanks to the wonders of modern technology, the CJIS compliant solution is here.

Introducing: SmartForce™ Shift Briefing

At Adventos, we recognize the logistical challenges our agency partners face in terms of sharing information with one another while getting everyone on the same page. With this in mind, SmartForce™ Shift Briefing was born – a single sophisticated yet easy-to-use digital workspace built with information sharing, collaboration and assigning projects and tasks at its core.

With SmartForce™ Shift Briefing, a patrol officer has instant access to ALL the information they need to effectively serve their community – whether they’ve been able to attend an actual in-person shift briefing or they’re halfway across town waiting for their court appearance to start.

All mission-critical information is easily updated in the SmartForce™ Shift Briefing tool where it can be accessed from ANY desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone device with an active Internet connection, allowing Officers to consume mission critical information needed to do their job in the safest and most effective manner.

Department leaders can choose between sharing data agency-wide, or on the district or shift levels. Whatever is the best decision to be made given the circumstances is now one that can be made as quickly and as easily as possible.

SmartForce™ Shift Briefing isn’t just an innovative solution to the logistical challenge created by traditional, in-person shift briefings. It’s also an easy-to-use tool built with form and functionality in mind. In the end, we wanted to help empower law enforcement agencies with a tool that brings them closer – both literally and metaphorically – to the communities they serve through effective, efficient communication and collaboration.

The days of trying to get all officers in the same room at the same time to share essential findings and other information are long over. If something happens, you’re never more than a few seconds away from pushing those events out to EVERYONE who needs to know – whether they’re at the station or in the field doesn’t actually matter.