Latest Trends In Public Safety Technology For 2023

Public safety technology refers to the various tools and systems that are used to enhance the safety and security of individuals and communities.

These technologies play a crucial role in maintaining law and order and reducing the likelihood of criminal activities and other forms of harm.

For instance, organizations dealing with public safety and criminal investigations, such as law enforcement agencies, have realized the importance of using innovative technologies for the security and protection of citizens.

Despite all other duties, public safety is the topmost priority of law enforcement officers. They are the real superheroes responsible for protecting citizens from crimes and unwanted dangerous situations.

The rise of artificial intelligence, IoT devices and sensors are transforming public safety departments with better situational awareness and effective emergency management.

Keeping in mind the growing need for smart technology-oriented solutions, here are some of the latest technologies to enhance public safety operations.

Before diving deeper into the topic, you need to understand the importance of incorporating public safety technology in law enforcement operations.

What is Public Safety?

According to Maslow's Hierarchy of Human Needs:

Safety is the most fundamental need of humans.

Therefore, governmental organizations make policies to provide protection to their citizens with a secure sense of well-being.

The most dedicated responsibility of every law enforcement officer is public safety. But what does public safety mean?

What does it indicate?

Public safety means protecting citizens from crimes, disasters, threats, or other potential dangers. It aims to safeguard every element of society as a whole.

With the advancement of technology, law enforcement officers now have innovative technologies available to ease the process of criminal investigation procedures and secure themselves and others from harm.

Emerging Technologies in Public Safety

Different tech companies are implementing innovative ideas to make their products more functional in providing emergency services.

Below are a few emerging technologies used in the field of public safety that open doors for law enforcement officers to become more active in their duty hours.

The Internet of Things (IoT)

IoT technology is rapidly being implemented in every sector, including public safety. For example, IP addressable sensors or IoT-enabled trackers help locate officers or people in danger and ensure the safety of officers at the crime scene.

These devices are powerful, cost-effective and offer more insights during investigative procedures.

Artificial Intelligence

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning is also becoming increasingly important in public safety. These technologies can be used to analyze large amounts of data, such as surveillance footage and criminal records, to identify patterns and trends in criminal activity.

This can help law enforcement agencies to understand criminal behavior better and respond more effectively to incidents.

Artificial intelligence can cut down human hours and can interpret massive data automatically in seconds. It enables public safety technology to sense, analyze and act accordingly.

In this way, AI-powered devices are more useful for police officers than ever before.

Source: Premium Times

In this way, public safety technology is getting smarter and creating more opportunities for agencies to solve cases in a productive way.

Benefits of Incorporating Technology in the Field of Public Safety

It is needless to say that technology has changed the world completely. But what about Public Safety?

Does technology help agencies achieve better results with less human effort and few human resources?

Public safety technology has many benefits that no agency can ignore!

Here are a few benefits to support this statement:

Gather Relevant Information Quickly

To make security operations successful, it is required to communicate seamlessly and gather more relevant information in no time.

It enables first responders at the crime site to access relevant data and respond faster in emergency situations.

Cost Efficiency

Digital technologies are making agencies more innovative and efficient, along with this benefit, incorporating technology into public safety can cut down their cost expenditures.

Data Transparency & Security

Nowadays, agencies need to be clearer and more open to the public in terms of data handling and data sources. For example, when and why agencies have used someone's data and how they are using it.

It is not just a matter of data collection, but agencies must ensure heightened security of all data stored as digital evidence.

Therefore, there are technology-based tools available that securely store and handle digital data to fulfil compliance and security requirements.

More Convenience

Things can easily be done with technology that seemed impossible in the past.

Thanks to technology!

Digital devices have completely revolutionized the ways of public safety operations.

Do you want to know which law enforcement officers are using which digital devices and how they are transforming their duty operations for public safety?

How Public Safety Technology is Impacting Law Enforcement Agencies

Many smart technologies, such as IoT devices and artificial intelligence, enable law enforcement agencies to deliver seamless system solutions for security and public safety operations.

One of the most common forms of public safety technology is surveillance cameras.

These cameras are installed in public spaces and monitored by law enforcement agencies to identify criminal activity and deter crime. They also help in gathering evidence that can be used to prosecute criminals.

Here are a few examples:

Body-Worn Cameras

These cameras are worn by law enforcement officers and capture footage of their interactions with the public. The footage can be used as evidence in court and can help to hold officers accountable for their actions. It also helps to protect officers from false allegations of misconduct.

"At least 85,000 law enforcement officers across the USA have been investigated or disciplined for misconduct over the past decade."

It is the most essential device for them as it can capture any incident timely and empowers them to retrieve significant information from videos and images for investigative purposes.

But it will be less useful for them if it is not integrated with an efficient digital evidence management solution for the chain of custody, secure storage and much more.

Read for more information on How to Secure Police Data with a DEMS Solution?

In-Car Video Systems

In addition to body-worn cameras, police car video cameras are in action to provide comprehensive information about every incident and encounter.

For example, vehicle dashcams are now widely used by officers. Video evidence captured from in-car video systems aids in solving court cases faster.

A collaboration between the National District Attorney’s Association and American Prosecutors Research Institute concluded in a research report:

Its integration with digital evidence management software ensures a smooth and effective evidence management life cycle and helps to preserve the integrity of digital evidence.

The Drone Technology

The use of drones is also becoming increasingly popular in public safety. Drones can be used to quickly survey large areas, such as disaster zones or search-and-rescue operations and provide real-time images and data to first responders. This can greatly improve the speed and accuracy of responses to emergencies.

AI-Powered Redaction Software

Ever-increasing digital evidence has overburdened law enforcement agencies to fulfill FOIA and other compliance requirements for protecting the privacy of individuals.

The personal information of individuals present in digital evidence must be protected; otherwise, it will result in heavy penalties. (The random faces in your CCTV footage - yes, they need to be redacted before being presented as evidence!)

Learn more about the Redaction Rules of FOIA: What are the FOIA Rules for Redaction? And How does VIDIZMO Software Helps?

To overcome this problem, there is a need for robust automatic redaction tools that saves time and human effort.

Redaction tools use artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies to redact personally identifiable information in images, videos, audio, documents etc.

Cloud-Based Data Storage

As discussed above, agencies collect enormous amounts of digital evidence daily. Store this data in a local storage device with limited storage capacity is not a suitable option for them now.

Flexible storage solutions can store data securely, along with other benefits. Many companies are investing in local servers and storage networking systems for data storage and secure sharing options.

However, they can opt for cloud-based solutions for global scalability, cost efficiency and data backup and whatnot.

Do you know there is software that uses the above-mentioned technologies and provides features as per your needs?

VIDIZMO DEMS is the Solution for Your Public Safety Technology Needs

VIDIZMO Digital Evidence Management System (DEMS) understands your needs. It is trusted in the market to provide the best services in the domain of law and public safety. It is an ideal solution for law enforcement agencies and governmental organizations.

As an IDC MarketScape 2020-recognized software, VIDIZMO enables law enforcement agencies to ingest ever-growing digital evidence from multiple sources.

Securely store, handle, analyze and share digital evidence within and outside your organization while additionally benefiting from automatic transcription and translation of digital files, redaction of personally identifiable information and a flexible range of deployment options.

Have a look at the features offered by VIDIZMO DEMS:

• Ingestion of digital evidence from a variety of sources, including body-worn cameras, drone cams, vehicle dashcams, CCTV etc.

• Range of deployment options such as on-premises, Commercial/Government Cloud (Azure or AWS) and hybrid infrastructure.

• In terms of security, it provides FIPS-Compliant AES-256 End to End Encryption at rest, in transit or in use.

• The most significant feature of DEMS is the automatic redaction of sensitive information shown in videos, audio, and images with manual redaction for accurate results.

• For tamper detection, VIDIZMO uses a cryptographic SHA-3 hash value to detect any alteration in digital evidence files.

• Secure digital file-sharing options such as the number of views, download only, expiry links, multiple links for each file etc.

• Integration with SSO identity providers for login purposes and to prevent unauthorized access to the portal.

• Integration with your existing RMS, CMS applications, Google Chrome, MS Office, Safari and much more.

• Maintain chain of custody report, which helps to prove evidence integrity in the court.

But that’s not all...

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