Tag Archives: Situational Awareness

Citizen Service for the Most Vulnerable

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Citizen experience is a key priority across government. Agencies are taking a new look at citizens as customers and simplifying how they deliver services. At no time is that simplification more important than at times of crisis. The government provides critical support to citizens impacted by natural disasters, public health emergencies, terrorism, and economic insecurity. There are some incredible examples of how government is applying technology to meet the needs of vulnerable populations.

Supporting Homeless Populations

Austin, TX is using the Homeless Emergency Management (HEM) Tracking and Prioritization Tool as part of its larger efforts to understand and support the city's homeless population. Field staff use the tool to capture information about homeless encampments that includes factors related to health, safety, and impacts on infrastructure, property, and environmental health. This data is collated into a score that helps prioritize areas for intervention.

Before this tool, departments across the city were collecting different information and had no uniform way to evaluate it. The HEM Tool applies a citywide lens to encampment response, enabling prioritization and resource deployment to those that present the biggest risks, supports consistent encampment data capture, and improves citywide understanding of needs, risk and trends. Continue reading →

3 Ways Public Safety is Utilizing Cutting Edge Technology

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In an effort to continue to keep us safe, law enforcement and other first responders are embracing and responding to the implementation of new technologies. In this post we'll take a look at three technology areas impacting how law enforcement carries out their mission - video, autonomous vehicles, and Internet of Things.

Video Improves Transparency and Public Collaboration

Body and dash cameras were originally introduced in the United Kingdom in 2005, followed by large-scale implementation in the United States in 2014. Their wide application was designed to "make police services more transparent and officers more accountable." The technology has proven its worth. For example, only 2.1% of citizen complaints filed in Chicago between 2010 and 2016 resulted in a disciplinary action against police officers, according to the Invisible Institute. Part of this was due to the fact that investigations were carried out internally by police departments with little outside input. A recent study found that today, with the use of video evidence, police officers are 64% more likely to be subject to disciplinary action after a complaint investigation.

Recording the footage is only part of the solution to best using video. That footage must also be widely distributed to help in identifying suspects. In doing so, departments have to be mindful of privacy issues of others who may have been recorded. Video redaction can be a time consuming process that wastes valuable hours. Today, departments are utilizing AI-enabled redaction cutting the process down to minutes.

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