Appreciating and supporting law enforcement in the work that they do
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| Understanding the challenges |
| Clarifying the complex with technology |
| Navigating data and the future |
| Choosing the right solution |
January 9 is Law Enforcement Appreciation Day, a time to recognize and support the essential work of law enforcement.
On this day, many people wear blue clothing, send cards of support to their local police department, and share their positive experiences with police officers on social media. Law enforcement agencies can’t do what they do—protecting the public—without the public’s help and support.
That goes for useful technology as well, such as security camera videos, social media posts, and online sources of information about crimes and persons of interest. Law enforcement also needs technology that can gather and analyze massive quantities of data from public records, social media, and other information sources. Technology companies are developing tools designed to better meet these requirements—and those solutions giving us more reasons to appreciate what law enforcement agencies do.
This month, we honor their commitment and pledge to provide them with the valuable resources they can use to continue their impactful work. By supporting law enforcement, they can protect and serve public communities better.
Understanding the challenges
When looking at how digital innovation can support law enforcement agencies to conduct their work, consider the challenges they currently face. They include rising crime rates (at least in some jurisdictions), budgetary constraints, difficulties in finding and keeping qualified officers, and increasing levels of online fraud and other cybercrime.
Start with staffing. Each year, the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) conducts a staffing survey of U.S. law enforcement agencies regarding their staffing numbers. PERF’s data reveals that the number of total sworn officers has declined from 159,100 in January 2020 to 150,714 in January 2023. The numbers were more positive in January 2024, to 151,335. Still, law enforcement staffing remains stressed. Large agencies (250+ officers) reported the greatest staffing challenges. Medium (50-249 officers) and small agencies (1-49 officers) have been having better luck, employing more officers than they were in January 2020.
Staffing problems feed into other challenges. Many departments have had to spend less time on investigative work in order to handle a rising volume of incident calls. Staffing strains also have had a marked negative impact on officer morale, further reducing their effectiveness in the communities they serve.
Agencies know that to meet these challenges, they need technology tools that can help them better track criminal activity. This is one key reason why agencies have been exploring the use of emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence (AI) and predictive analytics, to enhance investigative capabilities and improve operational efficiency, even when staff is stretched thin.
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Clarifying the complex with technology
Data analysis that incorporates AI can give law enforcement agencies a leg up when it comes to understanding the level and types of crime in their community and the nearby region. It can help them quickly sort through complex and often confusing data sets to uncover criminal activity and perpetrator location.
But simply having a digital data platform isn’t enough. Agencies need to conduct rigorous due diligence on the available tools to ensure that they are truly helpful. For instance, a platform needs up-to-date and accurate data–and to deliver reliable information quickly. It is essential for agencies to ensure that their officials have identified the correct subject before moving ahead with an arrest.
In addition, agencies need a single platform that can pore through a variety of public data sets so that law enforcement personnel can better track down offenders. Collecting and analyzing all this data helps agencies understand the full story of the activity being investigated. Related to this is the need to access crime data across jurisdictions, both within and outside the state. Finally, an investigative platform should be intuitive to use and not require peace officers to be IT specialists.
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Navigating data and the future
A recent Thomson Reuters white paper discussing how law enforcement officials view the future of their work reveals that these officials are looking for innovative ways to keep pace with the evolving changes and challenges they will face in protecting the public. While access to abundance of data is crucial for boosting the chances of uncovering criminal actions and those who commit them, the sheer amount of that data creates challenges of its own. And that massive, snarled pile will only get bigger and bigger every year, making it more complicated for peace officers to uncover information that can detect and even anticipate criminal activity. At the same time, staffing and budgetary challenges have required police departments to do more with less personnel.
That’s what makes choosing the right technology solution so important. A platform vendor should be able to prove that it will be able to adjust and scale up as policing challenges change and the amount of data law enforcement officers need to deal with continues to expand. In other words, such a platform should be designed for the future, with all its surprises and uncertainties.
Law enforcement agencies have been actively preparing for this future. For instance, there is a burgeoning interest in data-driven policing. This is a strategy where investigators use data from several sources to help determine not only where crimes are occurring but also where they are likely to occur. It’s not a completely new approach, but with digital tools continuously improving, it’s becoming more and more effective.
As agencies incorporate technology into their work, they need to make sure that they are equipping and training officers in its most effective use. By providing access to advanced technology, law enforcement agencies can better protect their officers in the line of duty as well as the public. But that can happen only if these digital tools are used properly.
The right technology, when used correctly, also can help strengthen a police force’s relations with the community it serves. For crime detection and prevention efforts to be truly effective, the police and community residents need to work together to identify existing and potential problems. Technology can help keep communities safer—and it can help keep police from arresting residents for crimes they didn’t commit. That, in turn, can make the public better appreciate and celebrate the courageous and critical work of law enforcement.
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Choosing the right solution
One tech platform designed specifically for public safety agencies and their work in Thomson Reuters’ investigative software and solutions for law enforcement.
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Powered by CLEAR, agencies can learn more about how data gathering and analysis tools can help law enforcement personnel become even more effective in their work with capabilities such as:
- CrimeTracer integration: Seamlessly search a network of law enforcement agency data and comprehensive public records with CLEAR data integrated into the CrimeTracer platform.
- License plate recognition: Accelerate investigations with live access to license plate detections, enabling you to make data-driven connections more efficiently.
- Real-time incarceration and arrest records: Gain crucial insights to help close investigation gaps and improve community safety with access to real-time booking records.
Here are three cases that demonstrate how law enforcement agencies can use Thomson Reuters’ solutions to make their investigations more efficient and successful:
- In Detroit, CLEAR provided police with location data for a woman who’d abducted a child from foster care.
- CLEAR’s data retrieval and analysis capabilities helped a South Carolina police force solve a complex theft case that crossed several jurisdictions.
- In Nebraska, investigators used CLEAR to crack a 50-year-old murder case.
On Law Enforcement Appreciation Day, we recognize and applaud the service that police provide to keep our communities safe. To continue to do so, agencies need the public’s collaboration as well as technology dedicated to their evolving requirements.
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