Police Departments are Using Data to Motivate , Protect and Empower Their Officers
Departments put their officers in the best position to succeed when they have a realtime grasp of their own data and can operationalize it to meet community needs
By Nick Noone Co-Founder and CEO of Peregrine
Reprinted with permission from Police1 , www . police1 . com .
The New Jersey Police Chief Magazine | December 2023
Police departments are frequently using technology like automated license plate readers , video cameras , gunshot detection devices and drones to find criminals and develop crime reduction strategies . With the right protections in place , these technologies are helping to make communities safer . However , it ’ s less common for departments to use data internally to support their own officers .
Tackling recruitment and retention challenges through data analytics Recruitment and retention continue to be a major problem for police departments across the country . The Police Executive Research Forum ( PERF ) reports that from 2020 to 2021 , surveyed agencies had an 18 % increase in resignation rates and a 45 % increase in recruitment rates compared to the previous year . The challenge hasn ’ t abated — total sworn officers staffing continues to decline .
Police officers are a department ’ s most valuable resource . As recruiting and retention challenges surge , law enforcement leaders are adopting data-powered strategies to train , coach and empower their staff . These strategies are designed to align officers with their community ’ s needs and the cultural values of the department — resulting in a more effective workforce and greater community trust .
Harnessing real-time data for dynamic public safety operations Public safety operations are incredibly complex because they are incredibly dynamic . Not only must departments develop both high-level and granular views of the communities they serve — for example , a macro understanding of crime trends across a region combined with the nuanced needs of people on a certain block — they must also continuously tune their understanding in near-real-time as trends shift or as new challenges emerge . Harnessing data at the speed of real-time operations is required to manage a constantly shifting environment . Doing so helps supervisors and officers stay ahead .
Departments are putting their officers in the best position to succeed when they have a real-time grasp of their own data and are successfully operationalizing it to meet community needs .
Community-centric goal setting and performance metrics Increasingly , police leaders are using data to continuously align with the community on macro trends and micro-issues , which allows them to set measurable goals and empower officers to achieve them . This data-informed , community-involved goal orientation is helping departments spot and celebrate positive progress , get ahead of challenges , and develop venues for collaboration between various levels of management within the department and with the community .
Internal training , mentorship and coaching have significantly improved for departments that are able to leverage reliable data for alignment between supervisors and staff . Supervisors have the information they need to set goals , deploy strategies and assign task ownership to the right people at the right times . Chiefs are introducing new strategies like dynamic resourcing systems that align the intensity and importance of patrol and investigative workloads with community needs and root causes of crime . These systems enable supervisors and officers to leverage data for high-value coaching and task alignment .
New styles of early warning systems offer additional benefits by providing a dynamic approach to supporting officers as they work through stresses inherent to the profession . Alignment on data empowers leaders and staff to be more proactive , and more empathetic and ultimately helps supervisors create the cultural environment necessary for officers to do their best work .
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