POLICE CAPABILITIESĪ police agency of the future may have automated dispatchers answering 9-1-1 calls, autonomous police cars, artificial intelligence (AI) robots on patrol, biometric monitoring for officer health and safety, and smartphone applications to interact with smart city technology software systems to process and file data instantly.Īll these technologies may not be adopted at the same time, but agencies that invest in smart city technology will have an opportunity to increase their community policing and use tech to assist with paperwork and investigative leads. The specifics of which smart city technology options to use will be a local decision however, the possibilities are almost limitless. As community policing is built on collaboration, respect and trust, collaborating on smart city technology gives citizens a say in the future of the police agency as well as the community they live in, which will help develop and preserve the strong ties needed to heal relationships with those who do not trust police.
Law enforcement can start by engaging in community discussions to collaboratively identify what the top crime issues are that should be addressed by smart city technology. These technologies can not only enhance the effectiveness of the police but also facilitate closer ties between the police and the people they serve. Cities like Denver and New York City use smart city technology in the form of gunshot-detection systems. Smart cities already deploy autonomous and electric vehicles complete with charging stations, LED streetlights for energy efficiency and better safety, and open-source data for governments to understand where resources need allocation. Very high interest in this theme is being driven largely by the social and political tensions raised in recent years, in the wake of officer-involved shootings controversies and civic unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, Baltimore, Maryland, and other jurisdictions.” In 2021, after the death of George Floyd, this same argument can still be made, and smart city technology is leading the way. A panel of law enforcement experts noted, “There is a call for practices and technologies to improve police-community relations. In 2018, the RAND Corporation led work to identify high-priority needs for innovation in law enforcement. Apply this concept to law enforcement and personnel hours can be directed toward community policing rather than labor-intensive work, and officers would have more time to be in the community as more than just enforcers. This saves time and money for the taxpayer and reduces pollution. Instead of the city sending trucks on the same route week in and week out, bins with sensors would notify the trash company when a bin is full. Think of something simple like your waste bin that is picked up weekly by the garbage truck managed by your city’s waste management company. IBM defines a smart city as “one that makes optimal use of all the interconnected information available today to better understand and control its operations and optimize the use of limited resources.” Once the data is collected and analyzed, the results are communicated to city decision-makers so that they may take actions to improve operations and manage assets that citizens access. (Getty Images)Ī “smart city” is one where data collection by sensors and analytics are used to facilitate services for better performance, improved sustainability, lower costs and a decreased environmental impact. By adopting smart city technology, police departments can become more effective by saving staff hours and costs and providing better service.
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