ASSOCIATE Magazine FBINAA Q1-2024

P rior to assuming the office of sheriff, Colston had served as the agency’s chief deputy and while in that position, he had tried to obtain mobile data terminals so that deputies could more effectively access information and complete reports in the field. Funding always fell short though, and even with the help of grant funds, MCSO was unable to equip all of the agency’s patrol vehicles. GOING MOBILE As chief deputy, Colston had a department issued smart phone and valued the utility that it provided. After reading about an effort by Chicago Police Department (CPD) to use smartphones for in-car computing, he realized this might be a way to cost-effectively leverage mobile technology as a force multiplier. Colston began his due diligence and learned that CPD was using Samsung DeX , which pairs a smartphone with a dedicated display and keyboard to provide the functional equivalent of an in-car computer. DeX could also be used to dock the smartphone in an office environment and deliver a desktop computing experience. “I began checking DeX out on my own to make sure it would work with the apps and programs that we utilize every day,” Colston ex plained, “and once I knew it was functional, I felt it could be a viable solution for deputies in the field.” When Colston became sheriff, he began working to obtain smartphones for each deputy and a DeX setup for each of their take-home vehicles. Each install consisted of a Gamber-Johnson touchscreen and keyboard with a touchpad. The components are mounted so they’re accessible to the deputy like a conventional in-car computing setup. The installations were completed by Colston with assistance from his chief deputy. “We’re a small agency so any way that we can save money is important; we do a lot of this type of work (equipment installation) ourselves,” Colston said. As smartphones were being rolled out to the deputies, MCSO set up three DeX workstations in the area where reports were often completed. “Each has a keyboard, mouse and monitor, and they’re set up in the office,” Colston said. “The deputies had been using outdated laptops that often did not work very well. Now they utilize their phone and DeX to do their re ports and any other kind of computing they might need to do in the station. We do have one Windows PC that is hooked up to a scanner and some other equipment that is Windows-specific, but almost all of what we need can now be done on the DeX setup.” MCSO was able to use grant funding to cover most of the expenses associated with the smartphone rollout and associated vehicle equipment. “We do a lot of grants,” Colston explained. “The local law enforcement block grant is what we used for the vehicle setups. We always watch our dollars and make them go as far as possible.” Colston noted that several years prior, MCSO had used a grant to obtain mobile data computers, but due to the cost of the equipment, the agency was only able to purchase two rugged lap tops. This meant just two of MCSO’s nine deputies had computers, significantly impacting the effective sharing of information.

MCSO’s 911 dispatch center uses Central Square computer aided dispatch (CAD) , and this has meshed well with MCSO’s smartphone efforts. “[Central Square] has an app called Field Ops that allows us to see the calls in real time, and we can do that from our DeX system,” Colston says. “There’s also mapping integrated with call location data so that we can get turn-by-turn directions to the incident.” The records management system (RMS) used by MCSO, is from Caliber Public Safety . Since it is web-based, it also works well with DeX. The net result is that MCSO deputies can now rely on a single device — their smartphone — for full access to the mission-critical information they need from both their CAD and RMS systems. And this access is readily available to them in the car, in the field, and in the station. “From my personal experience doing investigations, it’s been really helpful to be able to log into the system and see pieces of the puzzle that are relevant to what we’re doing,” said Colston. “We’re collect ing more data, and the more information that you have while you’re in the field, the more effective you can be.” Embracing mobile technology is improving community engagement in Monroe County because mobile technology is allowing them to spend more time in the field. Not only are they able to access information that previously required a trip back to the station, they’re also able to complete many of their reports in the field. “Deputies had been completing reports in the office, but this is changing because the in-car setups allow them to do most reports in the car, especially low-level reports without a lot of evidence pro cessing,” Colston explained. “There’s so much paperwork, the more they come into the office, the less they’re out in the field. We want them to be seen, and this absolutely increases their engagement with the community.” Colston noted that deputies still have the benefit and utility of a smartphone in the field. “What’s great is the program (DeX) al lows you to still use the phone to make calls while having a conven tional in-car laptop setup. And we were able to outfit nine vehicles for what it would have cost us to put just two laptops in the fleet.” BODY-WORN CAMERAS MCSO had outdated body-worn cameras (BWCs) and after some research, Colston determined he could leverage the smart phones as effective BWCs by using Visual Labs, an innovative approach that retains full smartphone functionality. “Streamlined processes for evidence management have significantly re duced processing time and the number of cases going to trial,” Colston explained. “A key advantage is the immediate video upload from the field - I’m able to review footage without the deputy having to return to the station. Immediate accessibility is a major benefit,” he said. Analytic capability provided by the Visual Labs software pro vides the ability to quickly review where deputies have traveled and where they have been involved in a contact or incident. “We recently conducted a data search looking at a specific area and we discovered relevant activity to a case that we had been unaware of before the query,” Colston explained.

FBINAA.ORG | Q4 2023

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