Police Departments Get a Boost with Business Intelligence

By Ken Mihalyov, chief innovation officer for Xerox Government and Transportation Sector

Simplifying work processes so that organizations can focus on what really matters to them is essential. This includes developing more efficient operations for law enforcement agencies.

An information discovery tool like Xerox Police Business Intelligence (PBI) solution can change the way these departments operate.

We worked with the early adopters of our existing public safety and information technology outsourcing clients, and established a core group of product visionaries who participated in joint application development sessions. They had widely varying backgrounds: active and former police and firefighters, academics, statisticians, and user interface/experience technologists. This breadth of experience provided substantial depth and perspective, which was valuable in developing a complex—yet easy to use– interface.

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2 Main Benefits of Police Business Intelligence

First, PBI helps bridge communication gaps between departments and agencies. Second, the data analytics capabilities help departments work smarter.

It’s been said that police, fire departments, and emergency medical service (EMS) responders have access to only one-fifth of the information they need in order to make informed decisions. We aim to close this information gap by providing agencies access to data quickly and easily from anywhere.

For example, we created an optional module that links multiple agencies’ computer-aided dispatch “status screens” together so that any member agency can see all member screens simultaneously. We developed this capability for the Bal Harbour Police Department and the Miami Beach Islands Chiefs Association, who needed to share and operate on this information. It will be available to all PBI users by the end of this year.

The most promising feature of PBI is the analytics capabilities. With such an intelligence resource, agencies can conduct and manage their programs more efficiently. The result is a new, department-wide database that generates daily dashboards, alerts, and reports that are needed to properly monitor and manage the organization’s performance. With business intelligence, police officers can perform an analysis to determine root causes of crime, and then use creative problem solving strategies to lower the crime rate.

We’re changing the way public safety gets done. For more information, watch our video (above) on Public Safety Solutions.

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