Drones Revolutionize First Response: Search & Rescue and Accident Investigations

Posted on by Lacey Wean

In the fast-evolving landscape of public safety, a silent revolution has emerged with the concept of drones as first responders (DFR), search and rescue (SAR) life-savers and accident investigation accelerators. Incidents can happen anytime, anywhere. Whether it is a 911 call to the police, a missing person case or a traffic collision, time is of the essence. DFRs improve traditional response and investigation methods to save resources and time as well as reduce risk for first responders. With the emergence of drones as a public safety tool for initial response, DFR, SAR and accident investigations, a new era of efficiency and effectiveness has dawned.

Utilizing Drones as First Responders

In the past, arriving at the scene after any 911 call required precious minutes to mobilize personnel and equipment. The DFR model has changed this by significantly cutting response times. Equipped with high-resolution cameras, thermal imaging or other advanced sensors, drones can swiftly survey any scene from the skies and provide crucial data to first responders.

In December 2015, the Chula Vista Police Department (CVPD) established the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Committee with the primary aim of evaluating the integration of UAS into its public safety operations.^[1] The subsequent drone program represents a groundbreaking milestone, as the nation’s first instance of employing drones as first responders. Since then, the initiative has reached a total of 16,736 calls responded to, 2,273 assisted arrests and an average response time of 96.66 seconds from dispatch to on-scene arrival.^[2]

In addition to speed, drones offer a unique aerial perspective and allow public safety professionals to understand the extent of the incident, identify potential hazards and allocate resources more effectively. This improved situational awareness helps first responders make informed decisions, while enhancing the safety of both citizens and personnel.

Enabling Search and Rescue Missions

SAR operations often involve difficult terrains and adverse weather conditions. These challenges have seen a remarkable transformation with the integration of drones. Drones can cover vast areas quickly and efficiently, greatly improving the chances of locating missing persons or survivors.

For example, the Weber County Search and Rescue (WCSAR) has taken a significant stride towards augmenting safety and efficiency through the establishment of a Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) program which provides invaluable aerial support to ground personnel. Prior to the sUAS program, the average search time for a person in distress was 4 hours and 35 minutes. Since the program’s inception, this time has been drastically reduced to 58 minutes.^[3] These statistics underscore the impact of UAS technology on SAR operations, greatly enhancing response times and ultimately increasing the chances of successful outcomes.

Offering More Efficient and Effective Investigations

Accident investigations play a crucial role in determining the causes and contributing factors behind incidents, especially for traffic-related mishaps. Drones equipped with 3D mapping technology have revolutionized manual measurements and reconstructions by creating accurate digital reconstructions of accident scenes in record time. With a drone, a process that sometimes can take 6-8 hours by investigators can be accomplished in 3-4.^[4]

What sets this modern approach apart is its data-driven essence. Drones, armed with their high-resolution cameras and advanced sensors, facilitate the collection of intricate data from accident scenes. This wealth of information serves as the bedrock for constructing precise digital reconstructions, offering investigators unprecedented insights into the unfolding of events. The Tippecanoe County Sheriff’s Office in Indiana reported a 60% reduction in overall scene time thanks to UAS deployment, allowing them to efficiently measure an 800-foot scene in just 22 minutes.^[5]

Similarly, the Oro Valley Police Department in Arizona and the Houston Fire Department in Texas witnessed significant improvements in incident response times, with the former achieving a 32% reduction in roadway and incident clearance times, and the latter experiencing a 40% reduction in scene time, ultimately enhancing safety and efficiency in their operations.^[6]

Looking Ahead

The journey of drones from being mere recreational gadgets to becoming indispensable tools for the public safety community has been truly remarkable. With advancements in technology, it can be expected that drones will become even more sophisticated and versatile in the future. The potential for integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enhance drone capabilities, such as real-time object recognition or predictive analytics, holds exciting possibilities for improving emergency response, SAR and accident investigations.

In the near future, industry can anticipate drones with enhanced autonomy to work in coordinated swarms, learn from past missions and employ advanced object recognition. Fully autonomous drones will include on-demand deployment, emergency alert response, target tracking, obstacle avoidance, indoor flight, AI capabilities, GPS connectivity, voice commands, patrol vehicle integration, advanced threat detection and real-time situational awareness through live feeds.^[7]

The concept of DFR and drones utilized in SAR and accident investigations is no longer a distant dream but a reality reshaping the landscape of public safety. These flying machines have proven to be first responders’ best allies, aiding them in saving lives, conducting efficient accident investigations and navigating challenging rescue missions. As regulations evolve and technology continues to advance, drones will play an even more pivotal role in protecting and defending the public.

To learn more about how Carahsoft can support your drones technology initiatives, visit our Autonomy and Robotics technology solutions portfolio.

References:

[1] “Chula Vista Police Department Drone Program,” Chula Vista Police Department, https://www.chulavistaca.gov/departments/police-department/programs/uas-drone-program

[2] “Dawn of Drones Podcast,” Dawn Zoldi, https://www.auvsi.org/dawn-drones-episode-81-miriam-foxx-captain-chula-vista-police-department

[3] Credit: Captain Kyle Nordfors, Mountain Rescue Association (MRA) UAS Chairman Weber County Sheriff’s Office (Utah) Captain – Alaska Airlines B737

[4] “Drones For Good: Saving Time And Lives With Faster Crash Scene Reconstruction,” DJI, https://www.dji.com/newsroom/news/drones-for-good-planting-crash-scene-reconstruction-photogrammetry-purdue

[5] “UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS FOR TRAFFIC INCIDENT MANAGEMENT,” U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration, https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/tim/docs/EDC-6_Factsheet_TIM_UnmannedAircraft_v2_508.pdf

[6] “Next-Generation TIM: Integrating Technology, Data, and Training,” U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration, https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/innovation/everydaycounts/edc_6/nextgen_tim.cfm

[7] “Can AI drones help protect officers in these dangerous times?,” Police 1, https://www.police1.com/officer-survival-guide/articles/can-ai-drones-help-protect-officers-in-these-dangerous-times-Ii9BujqaIeEB0hkZ/

IACP Conference 2022 Recap: Exploring Cybersecurity and Data Analysis

Posted on by Madeline Williams-Potter

Both law enforcement professionals and technology providers gathered at the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Conference 2022 to discuss current challenges in the field and latest technology resources to meet the needs of the police force. Based on a commitment to advance safer communities through thought leadership, experts focused on utilizing technology modernization to address the growing issues of cybersecurity and maximizing resources through effective data analysis.

CYBERSECURITY

Smartphone Use for Police Operations: Law enforcement agencies have found many benefits from providing officers in the field with smartphones including increased officer safety through GPS tracking, easy access to a camera, body-worn incident tagging, similar functionality to in-vehicle mobile data terminals (MDTs) and support to in-vehicle, in-field and in-station operations. The challenge, however, is achieving compliance and instituting cybersecurity strategies to ensure the safety of the data, device and officer. The Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Security policy applies to all parties dealing with criminal justice information (CJI) and incorporates guidelines on wireless networking, data encryption and remote access. Mobile device management (MDM), a way to manage agency smartphones, is a requirement for any agency wanting to access, transmit or store criminal justice data using mobile devices. Agencies must institute elements such as:

Multi-factor authentication
Regular updates and maintenance
Remote device locking and setting lock capabilities
Remote wiping of device
Folder or disk level encryption
Detection of unauthorized configurations, software or applications
Location tracking of agency-controlled devices
Prevention of unpatched devices from accessing CJI or CJI systems

Ransomware: The recent increase of ransomware and impact of successful attacks is driving urgency within law enforcement agencies to institute stronger cybersecurity strategies. Disruptions to police systems cause 911 calls to be rerouted, CAD systems to be disrupted, email and phone systems to be disabled as well as other repercussions. Cybercriminals also threaten to leak confidential informant, victim and officer details if the police do not pay the ransom. Investigations conducted to identify possible ransomware attack patterns revealed that there was no geographic methodology behind the hacks but that the common link was, any vulnerability found in an agency’s system was exploited.

Ransomware remains the largest type of attacks against public safety agencies. Police departments make up about 22% of attacks on public safety and from 2020-2021, approximately $800 million was spent towards restoring operations due to ransomware attacks. The increase in ransomware can be attributed to the decrease of technological skills required to launch an attack, particularly in the form of ransomware-as-a-software (RaaS).

To protect an agency’s critical data, law enforcement institutions should adopt National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework principles such as:

Know your network: Examine all hardware, software, data flows and applications
Know your adversary: Who is attacking and how might they do it?
Patch, Patch, Patch: While sometimes difficult to execute operationally, it is essential
Know what normal looks like: It is the only way to detect abnormal
Educate your users: Cybersecurity is everyone’s responsibility
Know how to respond to a cyber-attack: Train hard, fight easy

Cybersecurity and Digital Integrity: In this current digital age, many agencies experience cyber fatigue, struggling to manage all the technology, digest the data and maintain sufficient security. The extensive number of devices such as internet of things (IoT) devices, vendor devices or other forms of technology running through the agency’s network create vulnerabilities and often result in cyber breaches. Being able to ingest all the data safely and effectively is critical to the justice system’s mission. All technology, even the most cutting-edge, still requires the implementation of cybersecurity. As a frame of reference, experts reminded that IT systems necessitate just as much security as physical evidence management and keeping the chain of custody intact.

Cyber incidents and data loss within law enforcement agencies endangers not only the public’s safety but also their trust in police officials. Inter-agency sharing of breaches is a key element to mitigate risk and promote transparency. Agencies can also facilitate trust within the community by proactively communicating their use of technology and the protection strategies in place to safeguard public data. Ultimately, technology should be implemented in conjunction with the correct cybersecurity measures to avoid opening additional vulnerabilities and successfully enhance safety and community trust.

DATA ANALYSIS

Modernizing Investigations in the Digital Age: Experts attest to the power of properly employed technology within the law enforcement field. By innovating with current technology and adopting other digital resources, agencies can transform the public safety landscape and offer significant value-adds to those who protect the community daily. To modernize the investigation workflow and process the substantial amounts of digital evidence, law enforcement administrations must focus on training personnel properly, instilling an understanding of the importance of securing digital evidence, keeping the chain of custody on digital evidence intact and demonstrating for other agencies the technology benefits to promote interagency collaboration and support.

Currently, 95% of crimes have a digital component involved through phone records, social media, security cameras etc. making the data analysis a crucial part of cases. This quantity of digital evidence extending across multiple aspects of investigations, the technical sophistication of criminals, public scrutiny and lack of resources can make it a challenge to store and manage. However, harnessing technology platforms that can analyze, track, store and share the data easily shifts the situation from being an underutilized burden to an integral wealth of information and efficiency booster.

Body Worn Cameras and Public Trust: Many law enforcement agencies have implemented widespread usage of body worn cameras (BWC) to increase transparency and build trust within their communities. According to a 2018 report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), 80% of law enforcement agencies have acquired body-worn cameras however 99% of that footage was never analyzed. Without the tools to catalog, analyze and apply the data, ROI on BWCs is severely impeded and the technology is rendered obsolete.

To remedy this situation, public safety offices are looking to create a fully indexed and automated database of events linked to multiple applications: supervision, performance evaluation, training, officer safety and wellness, community trust and transparency, risk management, etc.

This analysis and processing of BWC footage is possible through Multi-Modal Analysis (MMA) which integrates natural language processing (NLP) and computer vision (CV). Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) empower this technology to analyze the content of the camera footage and train the computer systems to optimize the material for easy evaluation of officer and citizen behavior. Public officials can then take these insights and formulate strategies of how officers can better influence interactions. Agencies plan to begin the adoption process of this solution starting in 2023. This will provide a new capacity to measure and evaluate officers in action and strengthen community trust through measurable outcomes and enhanced accountability.

Multimedia Evidence and Data Analytics Programs: Law enforcement agencies are often faced with the challenge of overwhelming amounts of data collected during cases. Officers gather three types of data:

Operational data—traffic stops, field interviews, calls for service, criminal incident, tips and informants
Non-operational data—human resources, training records, disciplinary files etc.
Digital evidence—video footage, news media, pictures, social media etc.

Unless it is handled properly, all of this information needing to be analyzed and managed can shutdown police IT systems and slow down the investigation. To solve this difficulty, public safety administrators created the Digital Content Analysis Platform (DCAP), which consists of several vetted tools to process the material. In addition to these resources, the key aspects needed for a successful data analysis program are:

Organizational planning & strategy
Proper implementation
Maintenance of architecture
Standardized processes
Proper and continuous training
Technical support and assistance
Communication and clear goal setting
Development of technical skills or robust outsourced managed services
Public safety mindset change

When law enforcement leadership prioritize the effort and commit the funding to these initiatives, it enables police departments to take basic reports and transition to software dashboards that make reports more efficient and easily digestible.

As law enforcement agencies seek to improve operations for the benefit of police officers and the communities they serve, utilizing technology plays a major role. Taking the data available and extracting insights through tech software enables police to operate data-driven strategies which contribute to a significant reduction of violent crime in cities across the country. By implementing the correct cybersecurity procedures alongside these IT solutions, law enforcement can be assured of the safety as well as the greatest benefits from the technology. Law enforcement agencies must unify under the mission of building trust within the community and maximizing every resource to protect public safety.

Visit Carahsoft’s Law Enforcement portfolio, bringing together industry-leading software and hardware solutions to support Federal, State and Local public safety agencies. Alongside our vendor partners, Carahsoft provides policing and investigative technologies to support mission objectives.

*The information contained in this blog has been written based off the thought-leadership discussions presented by speakers at IACP 2022.*

The 4 Latest Technology Trends in Law Enforcement

Posted on by GovWhitePapers, GovEvents

In the last few decades technology and digital services have grown exponentially, becoming more automated, advanced and often accurate. Now, law enforcement agencies are continuously learning how to adapt their outdated technologies to fight crime in the cyber and physical world. To better provide public safety, agencies should focus their efforts in four main areas: manage data, secure investment, ensure mobile accessibility and remain transparent. With these trends in mind, the law enforcement community can begin understanding the best ways to use technology against criminals.

1) Manage Data

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—data that is personal and could even be life altering. Within data security and management, there are three vital categories to consider.

Protecting and storing sensitive data: The amount of cyber data held by law enforcement is unfathomable and keeping it secure is of utmost importance. 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 versus external drives that can be stolen or broken.
Digital evidence as a part of every case: 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 simply 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.
The relevancy of 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.

2) Secure Investment

While it is obvious law enforcement must transition to more upgraded technology, new devices, software and security measures, these upgrades come with a hefty price tag. Not only do smaller law enforcement organizations have to compete for funding with larger state and local government agencies, but they must also attempt to build their case for funding allocation with data from outdated systems.

However, agencies can still use what they have in order to prove their services are worth the cost. For example, the Seattle Police Department used data from roughly 10,000 cases of mental health crisis to show the scope of support that is needed to create better programs for handling these unique situations.^[1]Other agencies are using Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions to mitigate storage, security and other data issues that are overwhelming legacy systems and the policing staff.

3) Ensure Mobile Accessibility

More funding and better data solutions will not fix the glaring issues of a lack of officer preparedness and willingness to learn new technologies. On the other hand, new processes and tech should help streamline their work such as mobile-first solutions. For example, officers who must still transition to using a smart phone on the job should find it easy as they likely already have a personal smart phone. Additionally, 5G is being widely built to align with law enforcement sectors. 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.

4) Remain Transparent

Transparency within policing has become an increasingly controversial topic, but data ensures factual support to garner trust between law enforcement agencies and the public. Some useful data is crime data, use-of-force data and mental and behavioral health crisis response data. Sharing these through PDFs or records management systems is simple, but new, collaborative data portals provide community members the opportunity to download and analyze data for themselves. There can be discrepancies in data collection, though, such as the use of body cameras and surveillance videos. These create grey areas when it comes to rights regarding digital information collection versus physical evidence.

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. Organizations must continue to share their experiences to understand what is and is not working among the industry to ultimately improve not only the relationship between law enforcement and their communities, but also efficiency of public safety.

Read the full report by GovWhitePapers featuring real-world examples from Carahsoft’s vendors ADF Solutions, Magnet Forensics, Mark43 and Voyager Labs. For more information on the latest advancements in the Law Enforcement Sector, check out Carahsoft’s Federal, State and Local Law Enforcement Technology solutions.

[1] “6 Challenges Impacting Public Safety & How Agencies are Adjusting,” Mark43, https://mark43.com/resources/blog/6-challenges-impacting-public-safety-how-agencies-are-adjusting/

“Law Enforcement Technology Trends Report,” GovWhitePapers, https://static.carahsoft.com/concrete/files/8116/5956/0644/2022_Law_Enforcement_Technology_Trends_Report.pdf

5G: The Future of Pandemic Response

Posted on by The Carahsoft Team

The COVID-19 pandemic caught the world by surprise. Slow reaction time, limited outreach capability and antiquated systems delivered a response that was not as effective or as agile as it could have been. Decades of infrastructure designed around in-person interactions were suddenly useless.

In efforts to maintain continuity of government, agencies worked overtime to pivot away from in-person interactions and moved to digital infrastructure. Changes ranged from small (accepting e-signatures) to large (tele-social care and moving drivers’ license applications online).

COVID-19 will pass eventually, but will we be prepared for the next national emergency? Technology and big data have played a major role in government response—and will probably play a similar role for whatever comes next.

5G will provide the platform for accelerated response execution. The widespread deployment of the communications standard will change how we approach resiliency, response and health care. It will enable everyone—from citizen to agency to first responder—to prepare and respond to the next health care catastrophe.

How 5G will impact the next pandemic

COVID-19 provided a glimpse into how 5G will be used for the next health crisis. The technology is still in the growth stage and wasn’t ready to be fully leveraged in 2020. However, it provided a roadmap of where responses may be going. Future pandemics will be marked by connectivity and an abundance of data.

For the general public, being better connected will be a bigger factor:

Better connected to work and school – For some, the shift to remote work was simple. For others, especially in areas where broadband speeds are limited, it was a larger issue.
Better connected to healthcare – Telemedicine, already gaining ground, will be more widespread.
Better connected to resources – Supply chains will make better use of automation and reduce person-to-person contact.

5G will help create parity of access and deliver a similar experience to all citizens.

But for public sector organizations, the next pandemic response will be marked by how many more tools government agencies and health care providers have at their disposal and how quickly information is shared. For example:

Tracking virus spread – From connected cars to wearable devices, 5G technology will make the Internet of Things (IoT) devices more ubiquitous. Sensor technology will be more advanced and come in a more ubiquitous footprint. 5G will also make it easier to track patient movements and dynamics. Doctors will know where infected patients have been and who they’ve interacted with, just by using data streamed by devices over 5G networks.
Remote diagnosis and care – Rural areas with reduced internet access have been at a disadvantage. Without the free flow of information that urban areas enjoy, rural health care workers work without the best tools. 5G will bridge this divide and enable remote health care. Public health bodies will have access to the latest data and applications no matter where they are.
Virtual reality surgical procedures – Surgeons will have the capacity to train and even perform procedures without being in the same room as the patient. Expert care will no longer be constrained by geography.
Citizen Engagement – 5G has the ability to transform local and rural communities from digital “have nots” to smart cities. With the bandwidth reach also comes the government’s ability to reach into those communities, communicate and deliver services more directly to the citizen.
AI predictions – Artificial Intelligence (AI) requires large amounts of bandwidth, which 5G will provide. AI will help governments make data-based decisions on everything from future spreads of a virus to potential cures. 5G will enable these systems that require huge amounts of data to operate at peak capacity and share findings with other organizations.
Machine-to-machine communications – New IoT devices will continue to increase automation and make in-person communication optional. Autonomous vehicles, smart cities and drones will aid response capabilities. Governments will also be better positioned to be notified of public health issues (pandemics included) and respond quickly.

5G technology is here. The public sector—from municipal to federal—stands to benefit, with new and better ways to serve customers and meet missions.

Carahsoft can be your guide through the transition. We partner with some of the world’s leading technology providers to provide white-glove services and solutions designed for your specific needs. From initial setup to optimization, Carahsoft will connect you with solutions providers to prepare you for what comes next.

Using Technology to Manage Vaccine Distribution

Posted on by Chad Cole

State and local government agencies are struggling to meet the challenges of rolling out a nationwide vaccine. Millions of vaccines have already been given, but there are still many who have yet to get their first dose. And, as new strains emerge, new or updated vaccines may need to be administered. Government agencies must prepare for the future in addition to handling today’s challenges.

It’s not just a logistical problem of distribution, it’s also an information problem. Residents need questions answered. They need to know about eligibility and availability of appointments. They need to make appointments. And all of this information needs to be up-to-date in a fluid situation.

Many agencies are overwhelmed with requests for basic information about the vaccine or appointments. This is huge challenge for state and local governments, and some systems are failing under the weight of demand. Call volumes can overwhelm even the most prepared call centers, and many online systems aren’t built to handle the strain.

Anxious residents make appointments with retail vendors as well as states. If a resident gets a retail appointment first, they usually won’t cancel the state appointment. Vaccines must be administered within four to six hours; numerous no-shows risk wasting vaccine. Vaccination capacity is not achieved if appointment times are left unfilled, and this has a negative impact on the whole process.

Improving the Customer Experience

Fortunately, the right technology not only helps supply information and coordinate appointments, but it can also free up staff for more critical tasks. With a customer experience solution, agencies can leverage AI, automation, and self-service across all contact channels. They can keep the community informed while allowing essential workers to focus on mission critical operations.

Reducing Interaction Volume: The most important task for government agencies is providing essential information to residents without overwhelming staff resources. Most residents don’t need to need to interact with a live agent—whose time is best spent handling the most difficult situations.

AI-powered voice and chat bots can remove the burden from human agents by promoting self-service options and automating answers to requests. Bots must be armed with information, including vaccine FAQs, the agency’s knowledge base, CDC information, etc. They must also escalate inquiries if necessary, seamlessly transitioning to human agents who have the information to pick up where the bot left off. With the right customer experience solution, residents easily find the information they need without long waits, freeing up the staff to focus on high value work.

Smarter Scheduling: A customer engagement solution can automate the handlings of appointment information, allowing automated scheduling and sending out appointment reminders through the resident’s channel of choice: email, phone, or text. By providing the option to cancel or reschedule with an appointment reminder, the system reduces the number of no-shows.

Scheduling Optimization: The right solution optimizes vaccine rates with proactive scheduling, automatically offering available time slots to residents on a waiting list. If a resident cancels an appointment, then someone on the waiting list will be automatically notified and given an opportunity to take the appointment so vaccines aren’t wasted.

Predictive Analytics: Self-service options can be enhanced with predictive analytics. The solution monitors every visitor’s website activity, noting which pages they visit and for how long. It can then offer to redirect them to another page or to self-serve options. The resident gets information or appointments without human intervention.

Proactive Engagement: Government agencies don’t have to wait for residents to call; many customer engagement solutions allow agencies to proactively reach out to residents. Likewise, the system can send notifications about unforeseen conditions like weather or a vaccine shortage so appointments can be rescheduled.

How the System Works

Below is a step-by-step description of how a good customer engagement solution would handle a specific customer.

Step 1. Mary hears that her county is administering vaccines. She calls the county health department to schedule an appointment and get answers to vaccine questions.

Step 2. Because of the high call volumes and resource constraints, Mary’s call is answered by a voice bot rather than a live person. The bot can be regularly updated to include new or region-specific information.

Step 3. The voice bot directs Mary to a website to register for an appointment, but when she visits the site there are no appointments available.

Step 4. When Mary visits a certain page, the solution’s predictive analytics are triggered. A bot offers to redirect her to other self-serve options and asks if she has any questions. She asks if the vaccine contains eggs because she has an allergy. Using AI technology, the bot answers the question—without having to engage a human agent.

Step 5. Knowing there are no appointments available, the bot asks Mary if she would like to be notified when an appointment becomes available. She chooses that option and her preferred notification method.

Step 6. A few days later Mary receives a notification that a vaccine is available and a link for scheduling an appointment. Closer to her appointment time, proactive notifications provide appointment reminders, information about pre-vaccine prep, and a chance to cancel or reschedule.

Step 7. Mary gets her shot; her customer journey is complete.

View our webinar to learn more about how to inform your community and allow frontline workers to focus on vaccine administration and other mission-critical operations.

Successful Vaccination Strategies Through Sentiment Solutions

Posted on by Quinn Chasan

The relationship between technology and the public sector has never been more pronounced than during the pandemic. As vaccine distribution rolls out across the country, state and local governments turn once more towards technology platforms to tackle the challenges a large-scale operation entails. The rollout of COVID-19 vaccines is a story of two sides – one is the mission side, where healthcare providers and federal agencies work to provide vaccines while understanding the opinions of the public. The other side is IT, as groups who once worked in classic IT environments now find themselves handling both increased user activity on public government websites, as well as larger and faster influxes of data that cannot be contained in a singular database.

In a world in which digital security is vital, balancing both sides safely and effectively requires a system that can handle complex and sudden changes. With cloud-based infrastructure and new solutions, many state and local governments are finding new ways to connect to both communities and agencies, all through the collection and understanding of data.

Putting the Public First

Public health does not exist in a silo — the “public” emphasis is unpredictable, as local communities have varying opinions within a single county or state. Sentiment solutions provide a way of examining the response to vaccine rollout within a community, and aid healthcare providers and federal agencies in anticipating changes to scheduling and administering vaccinations. With a sentiment solution focus, these programs can track the interactions of the public with real-time vaccine sign-ups or chatbots, and keep note of how feelings towards vaccine distribution change in a given area. Vaccine distribution can then be altered based on the feedback from the constituents, providing more vaccines in areas that require them at a faster pace. Having a solution examine the needs of a community and what drives their public health decision-making can prepare agencies in anticipating sentiments, and tailor their approach to vaccine distribution in a way that ultimately benefits the public.

Focus on Analytics

For the IT side of vaccine distribution, the rollout of programs involves working with agencies that would not operate together outside of a disaster situation, such as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). With data pouring in from users interacting with government websites, as well as data driven by the mission of vaccine distribution, central IT groups need to rethink methods of shared services that will be utilized between agencies. A cloud-based infrastructure can bridge the gap between these agencies, and provide core infrastructure capabilities to examining and handling the influx of data. Someone engaging with a website chatbot, for example, could provide data that shows they live in a location with many COVID-19 cases and a lack of vaccines. These analytics can be passed to epidemiologists, who can then see the impact on vaccine uptake or areas that require targeting for public health decisions. Not only do multiple agencies benefit from shared data, but CIOs can work within an existing ecosystem with less tools. The seamless integration of solutions such as sentiment solutions allows for focus to be directed towards the bigger picture, understanding the role of data rather than being bogged down in website reports or chatbot data. Data becomes unified, and analytics becomes clearer for all agencies to understand.

Transforming Data for Tomorrow

Having cloud-based infrastructure to manage digital data is not a momentary solution. Constituent voices will still need to be heard long after COVID-19 is dealt with, and IT solutions will not be utilized for a singular function. Implementing these solutions now, even for a singular use case, will keep the infrastructure in place to serve future use cases, as data management increases in complexity and scale. Future implementation can be faster, minimizing operation inefficiency as data pipelines will not have to be built, but can be ready to handle any situation. Such technology can even spread outside of its current deployment in communications and healthcare, to be utilized in areas such as the legal field. These new infrastructures and solutions may be used to help end the spread of COVID-19 through vaccine distribution, but they have the ability to provide a new beginning to managing and understanding both public opinion and data.

View Google’s Virtual Healthcare roundtable event to learn more about using Google Services to deliver data insights and other solutions.

Best of What’s New In Law Enforcement

Posted on by The Carahsoft Team

In July, USA Today reported that the combination of pandemic-induced economic woes and the national movement to “defund the police” could lead to the biggest budget cuts for law enforcement agencies since the Great Recession of 2008. For police departments facing growing demands and tightening budgets, using technology to increase the impact of existing staff and resources will be a game changer. Luckily, autonomous technologies, better connectivity, and more sophisticated video and surveillance analytics tools are available to fill in the gaps. Read the latest insights from industry thought leaders in law enforcement in Carahsoft’s Innovation in Government® report.

Managing Cyber Exposure in Law Enforcement

“A law enforcement agency can face a variety of issues. It may need to address issues related to who has access to what information based on their role. It may need to segment its network — for example, to separate CJIS lookups from other areas that are open to the public. Law enforcement organizations may also be connected to other municipal departments such as the Department of Public Works or even other departments outside the municipality. Addressing these potential attack vectors requires security expertise, which in many cases is not on the agency’s priority list or in its budget. As a result, these agencies become even more susceptible to attack.”

Read more insights Tenable’s Senior Director of Marketing, Michael Rothschild.

Using Blockchain Analysis to Fight Crime

“It comes down to having the right data and making it actionable. Specifically, law enforcement should be interested in a partner with data attributing services, which attribute addresses to the clusters — that is, the entities — that control them. In this case, that would be cluster associated with criminal activity and their cashout points. The historical data behind this capability is an important differentiator. Chainalysis is the only company that has systematically collected information that links real-world entities to blockchain transactions since 2014. This allows the software to accurately distinguish different clusters of entities and attribute more data than can be seen on the blockchain.”

Read more insights from Chainalysis’s Director of Market Development, Don Spies.

Cloud: The IT Force Multiplier

“Storing, managing and effectively using an ever-increasing volume of digital data presents multiple challenges. Buying and maintaining hardware for data storage is expensive and challenging and diverts resources from the core mission of public safety. Then, agencies must manage stored data so it is discoverable, retrievable and in compliance with legally mandated retention policies. Without a sound digital evidence management solution and automated life cycle retention solutions, data management is nearly impossible. Finally, because data is produced in multiple systems, integrating and normalizing that data so it can be searched, analyzed and shared is challenging. Without a strong data management approach and systems, agencies must access multiple systems to discover data that is in different formats, making it very difficult to integrate and gain insights from that information.”

Read more insights from Amazon Web Services’s Public Strategy Lead, Ryan Reynolds.

Supporting the Law Enforcement Community During COVID-19 and Beyond

“COVID-19 created an unprecedented urgency for state, county and municipal workers to operate remotely whenever possible. This caught many agencies by surprise. Although these organizations moved with commendable speed to equip staff to work from home, the needs of the public only increased. Law enforcement agencies had to quickly adapt to the dangers of a pandemic amid calls for police reforms. These officials had to balance protecting the public, themselves and their colleagues in an ever-changing environment. Many departments have come to appreciate how technology enabled them to address these critical priorities.”

Read more insights from the Director of the Law Enforcement Team at Carahsoft, Lacey Wean.

Technology is Key to More Efficient and Effective Law Enforcement

“The pandemic decreased proactive activities. There are fewer cases where an officer might stop you for speeding 10 mph over the speed limit, for example. Departments have to weigh whether it’s worth the risk to stop a car to issue a traffic ticket and potentially be exposed to COVID-19, or to reserve their exposure time for things that are a matter of life or death. The impact of that is reduced revenue generation. COVID-19 also impacted morale. More law enforcement personnel have died from COVID-19 this year than have died in the line of duty. That impacts a police department and its morale — people work longer shifts, and health often suffers.”

Read more insights from the former Senior Adviser for the U.S. State Department’s Antiterrorism Assistance Program and Senior Law Enforcement Adviser for the 2012 Republican National Convention, Morgan Wright.

Download the full Innovation in Government® report for more insights from these law enforcement thought leaders and additional industry research from GovTech.

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Tag Archives: Public Safety