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New Smart Squad technology to increase officer efficiency in Lethbridge

Apr 30, 2018 | 2:50 PM

LETHBRIDGE – Lethbridge Police Chief Rob Davis says thanks to new Smart Squad technology, the police service will be leading the province, and really leading law enforcement in the country soon.

Almost 200 years since Sir Robert Peel’s first officers began walking the beat in 1829 recording information with pen and paper, the LPS will be moving into the future as a new era in policing has begun.

Lethbridge Police have been working with an Edmonton based company called FactionFour since November 2015, the creators of the Smart Squad app.

A release states that Smart Squad brings smartphone mobility to frontline officers to increase efficiency, reduce costs and enhance officer safety.

Cst. Niels Vroegindewey gave an overview of the technology to local media on Monday, April 30.

“How this works operationally is an officer gets a smartphone and when they go out into the field they can access NICHE – our record management system – or their notes, they can take photos and they can take audio statements that can be used primarily to assist them in their investigation,” Vroegindewey said.

He also offered up an example of the time savings the app will provide.

“If an officer responds to a call, and someone complains about maybe an argument next door or some damage at their home, the officer can take an audio statement instead of a written statement which saves time and take photos as well to us help capture what’s happened,” Vroegindewey continued. “Then say charges are laid, and the matter goes to court six to eighteen months later, it can help officers better recall what happened.”

The Smart Squad app has been issued to approximately 70 frontline officers.

Police Chief Rob Davis says this app will give officers more time to be out of the streets.

“A lot of the time we used to waste having to come back to the station to do reports or go out to a cruiser to run data, officers can now do that right on the device. It’s a seismic shift for how we gather information,” Davis stated.

With officers able to grab audio statements and video statements, Davis also added the quality of investigations has increased through the Smart Squad app as well.

“The big transition for us is that the time we used to use on administration and travel back to the station can now be used for pro-active policing, to be out in the community and neighbourhoods doing our job of public safety.”

Before Smart Squad, frontline officers were spending approximately 23 per cent of their time on administrative tasks, 49 per cent responding to calls for service and 28 per cent on proactive policing.

With Smart Squad, the administrative time has been reduced to just 10 per cent, with 55 per cent now dedicated to responding to calls for service and 35 per cent on proactive policing initiatives.

“This started out as a project to make our officers more efficient in Lethbridge, but it has opened so many doors that we’re now leading the province when it comes to e-ticketing as well,” Davis continued. “There are several different opportunities for us now, all in the name of efficiency, getting rid of the old paper system and the redundancy in reporting. It’s all about streamlining our operation.”

There is also a monetary savings for the police service as well.

“When you attach a dollar value to it, it’s roughly 3.3 officer’s worth of extra work we’re able to do because of those efficiencies. That doesn’t mean we reduce our numbers, it just means we have that extra time to be proactive. Those old systems really cut into an officer’s time and ability to be out there in the community.”

Davis reiterated this is simply related to efficiency, not cutting back any officers, saying they would struggle for that pro-active piece beforehand due to time constraints.

“This is creating some time savings where we are able to deploy our officers on proactive policing.”

In 2018 LPS is projecting Smart Squad will save the organization approximately 6,300 officer hours and nearly 3,400 support staff hours.

In addition, the app enhances officer safety and intelligence by mapping recent crimes in order to increase situational awareness for frontline responders and provides real-time access to analyst-generated intelligence reports that can be filtered by area, crime type and more.

As far as e-ticketing is concerned, LPS and Smart Squad are currently finalizing the ability to issue electronic tickets – a measure that has been reviewed and approved by the province – and it’s anticipated the first e-tickets will hit the street by the end of the year.

The Smart Squad app will be rolled-out to all frontline officers by the end of the year.