What Happened?
Law enforcement, first responders and the criminal justice system are taking advantage of the latest technologies and resources to proactively improve the performance and efficiency of public safety professionals.
Unmanned Defibrillator
A student in the Netherlands recently invented an ambulance drone that can be summoned to the scene of an emergency when 911 services are contacted. The ambulance drone would come equipped with a defibrillator and fly up to 62 miles per hour. Placed discretely throughout a community, the drones would stay dormant until 911 dispatchers remotely trigger the devices to fly to an emergency site. Once the ambulance drone reaches its destination, the defibrillator can be used to deliver 50 shocks to patients in need, Urbanful reported.
The goal of the ambulance drone would be to significantly reduce emergency response times so citizens in need have access to care and outcomes are improved. The drone would have a camera on top connecting citizens to certified first responders to guide them through the process of using the defibrillator or providing other emergency first aid services before an actual ambulance arrives, Urbanful reported.
Predictive Policing
Also taking to the skies, the Los Angeles Police Department’s air support unit recently launched a new helicopter program designed to stop crimes before they start. The city’s police department operates 17 helicopters, the largest helicopter fleet in the nation, to better monitor and protect Los Angeles residents. The LAPD’s helicopter program is expanding to monitor risky areas to prevent crimes from occurring, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The Los Angeles Police Department is using heat maps, data analytics and decades of crime statistics to identify hot spots throughout the city where criminal activity is most persistent. The department is then deploying helicopters over the hot spots to monitor the neighborhoods and deter criminals from engaging in illegal activities, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The predictive policing strategies used to identify crime hot spots leverage an algorithm and predictive software that analyzes criminal data and maps predictions of future crimes based on past trends. The predictive software can be programmed to focus on specific types of crimes, time of day, location and other factors for more targeted campaigns, Gov Exec reported.
Not only does predictive policing enhance law enforcement efficiency communitywide, but the technology also helps individual police officers understand their assigned beats based on past activity.
Wireless Warrants
After a crime has been committed, it can often take law enforcement professionals significant time obtain the proper warrant to make an arrest or search a property to further a case. Butte County, California, has launched the nation’s first wireless warrant system designed to accelerate the warrant request and distribution process to make police investigations more efficient, Gov Exec reported.
With the cloud-based document management system, law enforcement officials can send a warrant request electronically to a judge who can approve and sign the document remotely within a matter of minutes. The electronically signed documents are equally valid as in-person signatures, and the system offers top-of-the-line security, Gov Exec reported.
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