Keeping our officers safe, accountable, and connected
With exciting innovations in police technology, from body-worn cameras to smart weapons and digital evidence management platforms, police departments are quickly discovering new ways to protect their officers, engage their communities, and streamline their daily tasks. These new tools are significant steps forward independently, but when synchronized to create the connected police officer each benefit reaches its full potential. Connected police officers are safer, more efficient public servants who promote trust and transparency within their communities.
The connect police officer uses an automatic and seamless network of devices to assist in daily operations. Body-worn and dashboard cameras, smartphones, and smart weapons communicate instantly with each other while staying connected with command center leaders for better situational awareness and smarter decision making.
Connected police officers don’t just benefit the officers though, they extend into their community.
- Officers are safe and transparent due to enhanced data collection and improved communications.
- Command minimizes the expense and efforts of managing, collecting, and sharing masses of data.
- Prosecutors get a holistic view of incidents for less court-time, more plea deals, and faster convictions.
- Citizens can trust in the increased transparency and objectivity of video evidence.
Sergeant Bill Kuykendall, a connected police officer with the Buda Police Department in Buda, Texas, found that the holistic perspective of dashboard and body-worn cameras allowed him the opportunity to annotate and expound on key details, “We point out details on camera and annotate what we’re seeing—you can’t do that with photos, and it’s difficult to capture all those details in written reports.”
The integrated technology of the connected officer is linked together by trigger activations—actions, such as turning on the car’s light bar, that automatically activate each piece. This way, officers don’t have to waste precious time manually engaging each element and can focus on the task at hand.
To learn more about how connected police officers can simplify your department while improving community relationships, read the Connected Police Officers: Increasing Safety and Transparency on the Front Lines whitepaper or visit www.microsoft.com/lawenforcement.
