Police departments can engage with outside partners more effectively by utilizing technology best practices.
FREMONT, CA: The law enforcement community is trying to get out of the mental health business across the country to cut costs. The organization strives to partner with behavioral health specialists and others to support alternative response strategies for emergency calls that do not require a police response. Technology tools can help police departments engage with outside partners, including next-generation data centers, video feeds, analytics, and visualization solutions. Using technology to drive an effective alternative response strategy is one of the best practices for maximizing technology.
Inter-agency data sharing
There is an urge in the departments to participate in interagency data-sharing partnerships in order to enhance data sharing. There should be interagency commissions, task forces, working groups, and so on. These bodies can serve as the building blocks of a comprehensive strategy to share data across the public safety sector. They are charged with formulating agencies' overall data sharing interoperability goals and identifying the model use cases, specifications, and benchmarks of success for data sharing interoperability.
Resource expansion with video
Streaming video can allow police to tap into the expertise of professionals outside the law enforcement community. By bringing in behavioral health specialists via video link, police officers on the scene may be able to help the individual without having to send a behavioral health specialist directly to the scene, potentially putting that person's safety at risk. With the option of having them available via video, they can still benefit from their expertise, but it removes that threat.
Enhance external communications
The safety of team members is always the top priority, and it can be accomplished by ensuring the safety net through effective communication. Robust call center capabilities will enable police departments to collaborate with outside agencies seamlessly by handing off calls and sharing insights. Police and social workers must be able to dig into historical information together to build context around the situation without endangering anyone quickly while effectively responding to an emergency call.
