Crime is a pressing safety issue in America. Total violent crimes surged by almost 10% in large American cities between 2020 and 2021, continuing a decade-long trend of escalating violent crime rates. This upward trajectory raises concerns about civilians’ safety, who face an increased risk of robbery, assault, and even homicide. As a result, jurisdictions are tasked with prioritizing public safety measures to better protect and serve the public.
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One of the challenges in addressing crime rates is the difficulty faced by police departments and their emergency communications centers in manually sifting through resulting data and tips. Not to mention the difficulty these organizations have filling vacant positions left by retiring officers, staff leaving the profession, or attracting fresh recruits. As a result, this has led to longer response times for emergencies, putting people’s lives at risk.
Eleven minutes is the average response time; however, given the current situation, it takes longer in many states. While staff shortages may be one part of the problem, more data coming in from surveillance cameras, traffic sensors, and IoT devices, to name a few, are causing staff to become overwhelmed and more likely to miss relevant information.
There are ways for agencies to step up their game, especially when giving these day-to-day heroes support so they can maintain their focus on serving the community and identifying situations that need their attention faster than ever before.
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By amplifying technology with AI, departments can better safeguard the public, alleviate the significant stress first responders grapple with day in and day out, and do their jobs more efficiently. Furthermore, leveraging a collaborative ecosystem augmented with AI can transform data and processes enabling agencies across a city to detect, decide, and act together.
Technology Is Your Friend; Assistive AI Is Your Partner
Technology and law enforcement agencies have long worked hand-in-hand together. For agencies today, it is a significant challenge to harness all disparate data flowing into their organizations. AI helps to sort through real-time data from incidents, IoT devices, and other sources. Because the AI is assistive, it mines the data and then alerts staff to trends and anomalies, leaving the decision-making up to humans.
It can provide real-time insights as complex emergencies unfold. Assistive AI can play a crucial role in supporting the employees working in dispatch centers. By automating tedious research tasks, AI systems allow personnel to identify situations that require immediate attention more efficiently, thus enabling them to perform better at their jobs, ensuring no response time is delayed.
Looking ahead, the potential for AI in not just law enforcement, but the public safety space as a whole, is vast. Now, AI has tremendous potential to digitally transform municipalities and break down the data silos that have hampered the collaboration necessary for disparate public safety agencies to work better together for the public good.
Faster response times can mean the difference between life and death for people.
Ready to make every second count?
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