Technology challenges in community policing

Over the past twenty years, policing has undergone profound change as a result of developments in community policing, technological advances, and the increasing use of technology in everyday life. These trends are closely aligned. For example, modern radios enable an officer to maintain contact with dispatch regardless of location; information systems and analysis provides critical understanding of people and situations while allowing for performance measurement on a continuous basis; even officer safety equipment—such as body armor—not only protects but allows the officer to actively engage and interact with the community without compromising safety. The Office of Community-Oriented Policing Services (COPS) has recognized this nexus through the provision of technology grants totaling approximately $827 million to more than 1,400 agencies to date. Furthermore, the COPS office has developed numerous publications and training programs to assist police chiefs and others in the selection and deployment of technology.These products have been oriented toward the development of effective internal processes to ensure good requirements development and sound procurement practices. In sector-specific areas, such as information technology, the products capture more detailed, technical information. I have developed a Police Technologist Training and Certification Program to build on these successes by providing a mechanism for mid-level police professionals—both uniform and civilian—to obtain training on the basics of technology deployment, sector-specific technical information, and a solid grounding in the principles of science and technology as they relate to policing.

A commonly recognized problem within the law enforcement community is that of the “accidental project manager.” The accidental project manager is often an individual assigned by a police chief to manage technology deployment because of past exemplary work, that may not be technology specific, and to some extent, this is not surprising. Police require new technology to protect the public and perform their duties effectively and efficiently; however, police departments cannot afford to hire full-time scientists, engineers and technologists to develop and manage technology deployments. As a result, a wide range of police officers and civilians are given the responsibility for executing technology programs on behalf of their departments while lacking the training necessary to make the best, most-well-informed plans and decisions.

Most current training available to police focuses on the internal processes needed to manage procurements successfully or on community engagement. Other work delves into sector-specific technical information. In particular, there has been excellent work in the development of training in information technology. For example, SEARCH provides extensive training related to information systems management and electronic crime. While these are worthwhile objectives, project managers lack the ability to work across all of the domains of interest, which include communications, information systems, sensors and surveillance, forensics, tactical systems, protective systems, homeland security, electronic crime, and many more. To obtain this foundation, the police professional requires an understanding of the principles of systems engineering, the basics of science and technology, and an introduction to the fundamental considerations across the broad range of technologies relevant to policing. For example, such an individual may need to know the differences between types of body armor one day, but be required to choose a facial recognition system on another day. To date, no training or certification exists to establish such a foundation; therefore, police chiefs continue to rely on their best available person, whether or not that individual has any relevant training or education. The majority of the time, a technology vendor is more knowledgeable than the staff they are supplying. Even if the system procured works as advertised, it often won’t meet the operational objectives anticipated by the department during the planning stages. Furthermore, ongoing maintenance and training costs to use the equipment may make it very difficult for a department to keep any particular technology operational past its initial deployment phase.

These problems detract from effective policing in a number of ways. Firstly, inexperienced project managers fail to engage the community on the deployment of sensitive technology. For example, Taser deployments may be compromised because the police departments are unaware of the full scope of health and safety considerations associated with taser use and therefore, can’t articulate the appropriate research basis to demonstrate whether deployment policies will improve outcomes in use-of-force incidents. The inability to properly articulate alienates the community before police have even stepped foot outside the station house. Secondly, ineffective technology deployment wastes resources and prevents effective policing. For example, a poorly-conceived communications system wastes officer time with constant system updates, poor voice or data quality, and insufficient operability and interoperability. Finally, effective technology management enables problem-solving that would not be otherwise possible. A well thought out surveillance system has a higher chance of being accepted by the community if, for example, the police are able to articulate that it can reduce crime in hot spot areas by utilizing strong mobile data systems to link information gained from an engaged community to crime trends thereby promoting  proactive policing.
For more information about the police technologist training program, visit www.coptechllc.com.