Policing-as-a-Platform setup helps California police go green

The Palm Springs, Calif., Police Department deployed SceneDoc, a mobile platform that streamlines documenting crime and accident scenes, in February 2015. The platform also enables uploading collected evidence to encrypted cloud servers.

Before deploying the platform, each officer kept a box of 56+ forms in their vehicles to use when responding to incidents. Once the paperwork was complete, they needed to take it to the station, digitize the information, upload it, create a folder for it and move it to a secure file. This process took about 45 minutes. With the platform, the process has been reduced to a 10- to 15-minute procedure.

“The process of evidence collection has always been somewhat inefficient, and we have been seeking a solution that would reduce the number of man-hours wasted. Additionally, with so many forms to fill out, we wanted a way to streamline that process and keep our officers in the field longer, versus rushing back to the station to fill out paperwork,” says Palm Springs Police Department Sgt. William Hutchinson. “We also needed a platform that could do a lot more than just forms… one that could allow our officers to easily collect images, audio and video — anything digital that would supplement or augment the case files,” Hutchinson adds.

The platform allows supervisors to communicate in near-real time with officers on-scene. All data syncs with the cloud, ensuring HQ is getting updates as they happen. In the meantime, officers, prosecutors and others can collaborate on cases.

“SceneDoc revolutionizes our evidence collection process. Our officers update cases right from their smartphones or tablets throughout the day, which puts everyone on the same page at all times. With this platform, case management truly happens in real-time,” Hutchinson says.

For security, the platform complies with Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) requirements and uses 256-bit encryption and multifactor authentication. SceneDoc has an office in Ashburn, Va.

Click here to learn more about SceneDoc.

_____________

_{To get connected and stay up-to-date with similar content from American City & County:
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Watch us on Youtube}