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With funding shrinking in many sectors of law enforcement, agencies are searching for new ways to operate affordably while maintaining quality standards. Police departments’ budgets quadrupled between 1982 and 2006. With federal budgets shrining due to the effects of the 2008 economic recession, there are simply too many challenges which would not allow for police budgeting-as-usual.
As Government Technology reports, professors and economists are urging agencies such as police departments to cut back on spending in the face of shrinking budgets. Some police departments are responding to the challenge. The Camden Police Department in New Jersey is aiming to run a “smarter police force” which will not only operate effectively, but also use intelligence to cover up for budgetary constraints. Camden Police Department Chief Scott Thomson has announced plans to use new technologies as a “force multiplier” which will assist the department and provide tactical and operational intelligence to a central command center.
There, real-time data will be fed back to the officers, linking them to a greater group of operatives with a broader skill set and ability. “They are getting better at procuring technology that can deliver capabilities they didn’t have before,” said Robert Davis, the director of research at the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF).
Though this system is still being developed and put into practice, the city is reporting a decreased murder rate since 2012.
PERF also conducted a survey of its members to find out which changes could be the most beneficial. Foremost among these was the need for a nationwide public safety broadband network, which is already coming into being with federal funding for FirstNet, a customizable wireless network aimed at providing officers with apps that can serve their needs on local, state, and national levels. Second is the need for a text-based 911 emergency system due to the growing use of text devices. Lastly, members of PERF saw crime centers that operate in real-time much like the Camden department’s efforts, and a ramped-up focus on cybercrime, as some of the highest priorities in the next decade.
