How has police database software advanced?
Police database software has grown and advanced significantly over the last few decades. Officers near the ends of their careers now have seen report writing evolve from handwritten reports 30 years ago to where we are now on cloud-based systems. A rookie officer in 2022 has no idea the struggles involved in writing, white-out and re-writing a long police report. The process of looking up a criminal history has become almost instantaneous. Officers have access to large databases of crime rates in specific geographic areas. The current age of police database software is trending increasingly toward Software as a Service or SAAS or web or cloud-based services. This latest advancement is putting more information in the hands of officers in the field, and it is just a click or touch away.
How can SAAS benefit a law enforcement agency?
Law enforcement agencies have been using police database software for manydecades, but Software as a Service is relatively new and advancing quickly. SAAS technology has grown just as our cell phone services and television services have grown. Traditional police database systems are like cable television while SAAS is like Streaming services. As the landscape of technology has changed so has police database software. SAAS has many benefits to an agency including set subscription service price, included maintenance, upgrades, problem solving, constantly upgraded database security, 24-hour call centers and the most important benefit of mobility and access to the essential databases. Police agencies, with SAAS, have become more efficient with allocating resources to combat crime in specific areas and the ability to better predict where and when crime may occur next. The financial side is also a benefit to police departments allowing them to have predictable, scalable costs and access to high efficiency tools that some smaller agencies could not afford on a traditional software platform. As technology gets better, think 3G to 4G to now 5G cellular data speeds, the amount of data and accessibility to this data will also get better.
What are the benefits of Software as a Service (SAAS) to the public?
Law enforcement officers are public servants and there is nothing more important to an agency than public safety. The public benefits from their officers having the best technology available in many ways. Officers can combat crime more efficiently when and where it is occurring the most. Officers can respond to crime trends, preventing the proliferation of crime. Officers can respond quicker when you need them most by allowing them to have the information quickly and officers being concentrated in high crime areas. Everyone benefits from a more efficient and effective police department and an investment in SAAS is an essential tool in any law enforcement agency.
