As the Colorado DCJ prepares to release final contact and use of force reporting data requirements, the team at CitizenContact by SmartForce® has been working on the latest release.
CitizenContact v1.6 has a couple of significant improvements that will save Officers time when reporting a contact. The notable improvements are:
Auto Complete List Choices
Auto complete allows the user to begin typing the list choice they are looking for (eg. Assault). Auto complete searches by content, so as the user starts to type “Assault”, CitizenContact will identify all choices in the list that match the spelling, starting at the first three letters the user starts typing. List options that allow multi-select will still be allowed using autocomplete in v1.6.
People Picker to choose officers involved in incidents and auto-population of Officer information
When adding an Officer to a use of force incident, start typing the name of the Officer. After the first 3 letters of the name are typed, a people picker will appear with the closest matches based on the first 3 letters that were typed. The People Picker only searches by name, not by email.
As the user/Officer continues to type the name of the officer being added to the incident, the name match in the People Picker will narrow the names to choose from.
Once the user picks the Officer from the People Picker, the name, POST number, race and ethnicity, gender, age, height, weight, years of service, and full or part-time employee indicators are auto-populated using the data from the Officer’s user profile in CitizenContact.
Thank you for everything you do to ensure the safety of your community.
Have you ever been part of an incident involving multiple officers, multiple locations and multiple uses of force? While not frequent, it happens. Using a robbery as a scenario we share what you need to know from a data collection requirement (State and Federal), who reports it and how contacts and use of force are reported in CitizenContact.
In the scenario below, Officers will be required to report the following:
Multiple contacts at four locations
Use of force at three locations
Unannounced entry at one location
A show-up (eyewitness identification) at two locations
Search and seizure of property at one location
Let’s dive into the robbery scenario.
One Officer at each location will complete the contact and use of force report for a total of four reports. Reports are completed in this manner based on the data structure published by Colorado DCJ and the detailed data structure required by FBI use of force reporting.
Scenario
Officers respond to the report of a robbery at a convenience store.
Three Officers are dispatched to the convenience store. The two suspects fled the scene in a vehicle driven by a third suspect.
Officer 1 locates the suspect vehicle while en route to the call. Officer 2 responds to assist.
Officers 1 and 2 follow the Citizen’s vehicle, and the vehicle crashes.
The three citizens run from the vehicle on foot in different directions. Officer 4 arrives at the vehicle crash.
Officer 1 and Officer 4 chase Citizen 1 on foot and catch him a few hundred yards away.
Officer 1 uses a taser.
Officer 4 uses a baton on the same citizen and arrests him.
Officer 4 reports the contact for Citizen 1, including use of force. In this instance, the data would be state reportable only. The data would not be FBI reportable because:
There was no serious physical injury or death
There was no discharge of a firearm at or in the direction of the citizen
Officer 2 waits with the crashed vehicle. He contacts a witness who can identify the three suspects.
Officer 2 reports contact with Citizen 4, which includes reporting of a show-up (eyewitness identification) as required by the State.
Citizen 2 runs to a local school and hides on campus. Citizen 5 calls the police when they see Citizen 2 run to the school and hide. Three Officers respond to the school and locate the citizen.
Citizen 2 brandishes a firearm at the three Officers.
Two Officers discharge their firearms at Citizen 2, who is now deceased.
Officer 6 reports contact with Citizen 5, including a show-up (eyewitness identification).
Officer 5 reports contact with Citizen 2, including the use of force report for this location. In this instance, the data would be state and FBI reportable.
Citizen 3 runs to the home of Citizen 6. Citizen 6 hides Citizen 3 in the house.
Police K-9 tracks Citizen 3 to the house.
Citizen 6 allows the officers to search the house unannounced and they locate Citizen 3.
Two officers use force and arrest Citizen 3. Citizen 6 is arrested for Obstructing.
Officer 11 reports contact with Citizen 6 and Citizen 3, including the use of force report for this location. In this instance, the use of force would be state reportable only.
CitizenContact meets mandatory reporting requirements for the State of Colorado and FBI use of force. Utilizing a complex scenario sets the stage for how the report is completed and by who.
You start working, log in to CitizenContact, keep up with your squad, and start your shift. Later you stop a vehicle but your device is offline. You told us about this problem and we addressed it. That’s why we developed Offline Reporting. Now, even with no internet connection, the app starts working offline. So, all the contact reports will be saved locally. After your connection is restored, you can submit them.
The SmartForce® Team
