As cybercrime increases, law enforcement agencies continue to be a significant target for bad actors looking to claim the extremely high value data these organizations hold. Within data security and management, there are three vital categories to consider:
Storing sensitive data: With large amounts of surveillance such as body camera video and patrol car data, third-party tech companies must step in to provide support in storage capacity. Cloud solutions and centralization of data is making it easier for law enforcement to securely store, manage and access data.
Digital evidence: All digital evidence from victims and suspects needs to be managed for future use in trials, but as the amount of evidence that needs to be stored grows, crime labs cannot keep up. To combat this, processes are being put into place that allow officers to collect the most important evidence from devices during the initial investigation and allowing victims and witnesses to keep them afterward. This way, crime labs will not become overwhelmed and law enforcement can build trust within an investigation.
Artificial Intelligence: AI gives law enforcement the opportunity to work most efficiently by combing through data within a matter of seconds instead of a manual approach that could take weeks or months. With AI doing the harder work, analysts can then make imperative connections within a case much quicker.
Secure Investment
With new technology comes the need to update to new devices, software and security measures, but these upgrades can come with a hefty price tag. Smaller law enforcement agencies have to build their case for funding allocation with data from outdated systems.
Cooperative purchasing and better data solutions help streamline law enforcement's work. Ensuring mobile accessibility is key, and 5G is being widely built to align with law enforcement's needs. Various applications and software should be simple to access and use across any age or level of experience to allow officers to evaluate the more intimate details of a case, while technology handles the raw data collection and analyses.
Remain Transparent
Valuable data to provide transparency in a case is crime data, use-of-force data and mental and behavioral health crisis response data. New, collaborative data portals provide community members the opportunity to download and analyze data, instilling trust between law enforcement agencies and the public.
The Future of Tech in Law Enforcement
The demand for quick and accurate results within law enforcement is rising much faster than the ability for agencies to replace old legacy systems and implement newer, more robust technologies. To ultimately improve the relationship between law enforcement and their communities, and ensure public safety, it’s important for IT providers to continue to educate on the offerings available and for agencies and communities to work together to provide feedback.
Participants of OMNIA Partners are able to access Carahsoft’s industry-leading catalog, which specializes in IT and leverages the expertise of Carahsoft’s manufacturer-specific sales teams around their particular offerings and capabilities. Carahsoft works to on-board both established and emerging technologies so that government agencies can procure the latest solutions to meet their needs and ensure data security.
