Turning Operational Activity Into Actionable Information

The Opportunity

The Castle Rock Police Department continually looks for ways to improve how technology supports its officers, supervisors, and organizational decision-making.

One opportunity involved better connecting information already captured through the Department's computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system with its officer contact data.

A review of operational activity demonstrated that CAD contained significantly more information about officer activity than was readily available through existing contact-recording and reporting processes. Not every CAD event requires a separate contact record, but the comparison revealed a clear opportunity to reduce duplicate work and improve operational visibility.

The challenge was not officer effort. It was connecting information across systems that had historically operated independently.

Impact

Officer Time

From minutes to seconds

Relevant information is pre-populated from CAD, reducing duplicate data entry and allowing officers to complete applicable contact records more efficiently at the point of activity.

Operational Visibility

More complete and timely information

CAD integration substantially increased the amount of officer activity available to supervisors and command staff while reducing manual data entry and reporting.

Leadership Access

From manual data gathering to near-real-time access

Authorized leaders can retrieve relevant operational information directly, helping answer questions and evaluate activity without waiting for information to be manually compiled.

Why Integration Matters

Modern police departments generate information across multiple technology platforms. CAD, records management systems, officer contact records, and other applications may each contain a different piece of the operational picture.

Historically, an officer could clear an event in CAD and, when appropriate, separately enter information into another system. Even when both processes worked as designed, the separation created duplicate work and made it more difficult to develop a timely and comprehensive picture of officer activity.

Colorado law also establishes requirements for the collection and reporting of certain law enforcement contacts. The Department's goal was to build a process that supported those requirements while making data entry easier for officers and improving the quality and accessibility of information available to the organization.

Rather than adding another administrative step, Castle Rock sought to use technology to connect information officers were already generating.

Questions Better Data Helps Answer

Improved integration allows Department leaders to more effectively evaluate questions such as:

• What activity is occurring in a particular neighborhood or problem area?

• Are our crime, traffic safety, and quality-of-life strategies producing the intended results?

• Where are officers spending their time?

• What trends can supervisors identify that may warrant additional attention, resources, recognition, or training?

• Can we quickly provide accurate information when community members or elected officials ask about Department activity?

• Are there opportunities to adjust strategies based on what officers are experiencing in the field?

Better information supports better decisions while giving leaders a more complete understanding of the work officers are performing every day.

What SmartForce Deployed

SmartForce integrated with Castle Rock's CAD and RMS to streamline the contact-recording process.

For CAD events associated with activity for which a contact record is appropriate, the integration can initiate the workflow and populate relevant information already captured through CAD. This reduces duplicate entry and allows officers to complete the applicable record more efficiently.

Once completed, the information becomes available to authorized personnel for operational review and analysis.

The result is a process designed to improve efficiency for officers while simultaneously improving the timeliness, completeness, and usefulness of information available to the Department.

What Changed

More operational activity became visible. Integration substantially increased the amount of CAD-associated contact information available for analysis.

Data entry became faster. Information already captured through CAD can populate applicable fields, reducing duplicate work for officers.

Information became available sooner. Supervisors and authorized leaders can review activity without relying solely on manually compiled reports.

Reports take less time to compile. Staff can spend more time analyzing trends and supporting operational decisions.

Questions can be answered more quickly. Leaders can access relevant operational information when discussing crime, traffic safety, quality-of-life concerns, or neighborhood activity.

At a Glance

Testimonial

"Our officers do an incredible amount of work every day, but historically our technology systems did not always give us a complete picture of that activity. Integrating these systems allows us to reduce administrative work for our officers while giving our supervisors and command staff better, more timely information. When our Town Council or community asks what we are doing to address an issue, we can now access meaningful information quickly and use it to help explain not only what we are doing, but whether our strategies are working."

Jack Cauley, Chief of Police
Castle Rock Police Department

Key Takeaway

Castle Rock did not set out to change the commitment or effort of its officers. It set out to improve the systems supporting them.

By connecting information already generated through CAD with the Department's contact-recording process, Castle Rock reduced duplicate work, improved access to operational information, and provided leaders with a more complete picture of activity in the field.

The result is better information for supervisors, better analysis for organizational leaders, and a more efficient process for officers.

The opportunity was not to create more data. It was to make better use of the data already being generated.

The Question Better Integration Helps Answer

What are we doing, and is it working?