Real-time policing: 4 tips for a sustainable digital transition

• Real-time policing isn’t confined to a physical room — rather, it’s a cultural shift.

• Effective real-time operations require a thoughtfully curated tech stack that interoperates and breaks down silos.

• A cohesive data integration solution is key to unified real-time policing.

• Agencies must be wary of vendor lock-in when choosing technology providers.

Public safety leaders turn to smarter tech to modernize their departments and drive data-driven policing. But smarter tech doesn’t automatically make a department safer, more efficient, or more agile. To successfully navigate their agency’s digital transformation, leaders must be strategic, intentional, and forward-thinking, investing wisely in a sustainable tech ecosystem that grows with their agency.

A recent Police1 podcast offers insights, warnings, and strategies for agencies moving toward data-driven policing. The podcast featured two innovative public safety leaders: retired Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Deputy Chief John McMahon and San Pablo Police Department (SPPD) Chief Brian Bubar. While their agencies have vastly different scopes — the LAPD employs 8,800 sworn officers, while the SPPD employs 62 sworn and 25 civilian staff — they agreed on several best practices for implementing smarter tech. 

Keep reading to discover four key points from the conversation. 

1. Embrace a mindset shift

One of the biggest shifts in modern policing is the emergence of real-time technology. While many agencies are working to build standalone real-time crime centers (RTCCs), not all departments have the same resources. But leaders shouldn’t wait for a physical RTCC to implement real-time technology, Deputy Chief McMahon said. In reality, real-time operations go far beyond a single room. 

“It’s really using technology to transform policing in America in the 21st century,” McMahon said. “It’s not just a center, it’s not just a room, it’s not just one or two pieces of technology. It’s a layered approach. It’s a variety of technologies that bring everything together, that puts information into the hands who need it most.”

When agencies embrace that mindset shift, they can look for ways to incorporate real-time intelligence into their daily operations. Agencies with limited resources can start small, investing in one new system at a time while securing buy-in from personnel. The transition to data-driven policing takes time, but ultimately, departments that embrace new law enforcement technology can drive higher impact with fewer resources. 

2. Layer technology that works together

That mindset shift paid off for the SPPD, which has steadily added new technology to reduce strain on its personnel. Despite its 2.6-square-mile jurisdiction, the SPPD receives about 35,000 calls for service per year, with up to 150 calls per day.

“I don’t have all the tools and resources available, so we look for innovation and technology to help support our officers on the job,” Chief Bubar said.

While “there’s no one piece of technology that’s going to actively reduce crime,” over the past 10 years, the SPPD has invested in infrastructure to create a real-time technology center “in spirit,” he said. Today, San Pablo is 100% covered by situational awareness surveillance cameras, license plate recognition systems, and gunshot detection systems. 

While each of these systems collects valuable data on its own, that data is much more powerful in context. But most police tech wasn’t designed to communicate, meaning the SPPD’s data was fragmented across siloed systems.

The key, Bubar explained, is to eliminate those silos by “layering and integrating” solutions that work together seamlessly. The agency prioritizes interoperable companies that use open APIs, which allow for easy communication between different platforms. 

“Systems that make our job efficient and make our officers safer, make our response safer, make the community safer — those are the systems that we’re interested in investing in and building with,” he said.

3. Make your data tangible with a unified platform

As the SPPD added more layers of intelligence, the agency realized the need for a cohesive platform to bring it all together. Bubar looked for a data integration platform to make the SPPD’s “data tangible” by ingesting, organizing, and analyzing the agency’s many inputs. 

“Data is the universal problem for every police department,” Bubar said. “We have over 1 million points of data in our records management system at any one time. So leveraging all of this data and information and getting it to the officers has been critical, and we’ve had great success.”

The SPPD relies on Peregrine, a vendor-agnostic solution that ingests virtually any type of data, including the SPPD’s records management system and surveillance equipment. With a single search, SPPD personnel can explore their complete data in context. This allows for increased situational awareness, better resource allocation, and more time spent on work that matters. In total, Bubar estimates the SPPD has saved $500,000 in staff time with Peregrine. 

McMahon echoed the need for a unified, intuitive platform. 

“Using that tool that brings it all together is exceptionally important,” McMahon said. “If I had to pick one [tool], it’s a platform that brings everything together rather elegantly and, most importantly, is easy to use for the end user.”

4. Protect your department’s right to own its data

Bubar and McMahon both urged public safety leaders to be wary of the tools they invest in. Not all vendors are committed to interoperability, and some use misleading marketing to lock agencies into their solution. These vendors might advertise open data policies, but in reality, they make it difficult or expensive for an agency to access, manipulate, or transfer its data in full.

That’s a lesson the SPPD learned “the hard way,” Chief Bubar said. Now, the agency only partners with vendors “that understand that our data is our own.”

“There are vendors out there that are committed to innovation, that aren’t so beholden to proprietary language to prevent you from accessing data,” Chief Bubar said. 

To identify trustworthy vendors, ask the right questions about interoperability, open data policies, and data ownership. It’s crucial that public safety leaders know what they’re buying before committing and protect their department’s right to its own data. At the LAPD, McMahon ensured each vendor would explicitly commit to interoperability in its contract. 

“We can’t let corporate greed, for lack of a better term, get in the way of public safety,” McMahon said. “It’s imperative upon us as law enforcement agencies to absolutely insist that we have systems that are able to interoperate and communicate with each other.”

More tips for your digital transformation

Watch the full Police1 podcast to discover more tips on incorporating smarter tech, including how to get your community on board, using social media effectively, and the importance of a data integration platform like Peregrine.