2016 LAW ENFORCEMENT TECHNOLOGY REPORT CURATED BY TASER | AXON
LAW ENFORCEMENT TECHNOLOGY REPORT
CURATED BY
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WHAT’S HAPPENING IN LAW ENFORCEMENT TECHNOLOGY CHANGING TIMES, CHANGING TECHNOLOGY To do their jobs, law enforcement need the finest technology in the field. Making this a reality requires keeping track of the ever-changing technology landscape. That’s why we’ve developed this report. As part of this project, we’ve compiled the latest statistics on law enforcement technology, and the numbers paint a compelling picture about how new technologies have improved the lives of law enforcement officials. They hint at what the future may bring.
2016 LAW ENFORCEMENT TECHNOLOGY REPORT CURATED BY TASER | AXON
The numbers also reflect how some law enforcement agencies currently use woefully outdated technology. • 64 percent of law enforcement officials TASER surveyed in winter of 2015 said that their technology at home is superior to what they use at work. • A survey conducted by the Police Executive Research Forum in 2014 noted that “nearly all respondents (98.4 percent) agree or strongly agree that officers will demand a higher level of sophistication in the agency’s technological capabilities.”¹ The numbers don’t lie: when it comes to technology, law enforcement must play catch up with the general public.
Police Executive Research Forum. 2014. Future Trends in Policing. Washington, D.C.: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. http://www.policeforum.org/assets/docs/Free_Online_Documents/Leadership/future%20trends%20in%20policing%202014.pdf 1
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REPORT SUMMARY This report focuses on three areas of law enforcement technology: cameras, mobile, and the cloud. We’ve compiled some of the latest statistics related to these technologies, and when possible, we’ve compared the state of law enforcement technology with the latest in consumer technology.
CAMERAS Companies like Google and Apple have been experimenting with new devices, like Google Glass and the Apple Watch, believing that the technology has the potential to revolutionize the ways we live and work. Already, body-worn video has transformed the lives of law enforcement, giving them another tool in their arsenal. Body cameras have been shown to reduce complaints and use of force reports, and their footage offers prosecutors and defense attorneys a better sense of what transpired at the scene of a possible crime.
MOBILE Because of mobile technology, we’re more connected than ever. Nine out of ten Americans own a cell phone.1 As a result, mobile technology offers a two-way street for law enforcement: they can take advantage of a technology that most Americans use multiple times a day in order to foster better community relations and to refine their policing techniques. New apps allow citizens to send in complaints or tips to their local agency, while officers can now file reports through their phones.
Monica Anderson. “Technology Device Ownership: 2015.” Pew Research Center, October 2015. http://www.pewinternet.org/ files/2015/10/PI_2015-10-29_device-ownership_FINAL.pdf : 1
2016 LAW ENFORCEMENT TECHNOLOGY REPORT CURATED BY TASER | AXON
CLOUD Some agencies have turned to the cloud to manage the rapidly growing amounts of data that they’re accumulating from using wearable and mobile technologies. The cloud offers them a cost-effective way to store their data that also eliminates any need for them to manage their software on their own. Despite this, agencies have expressed some hesitation about trusting their cloud provider with their data—even though the cloud is in many ways more secure than on-premise storage.² Knowing how to choose the right provider and having a comprehensive cybersecurity plan remain major issues for law enforcement.
71%
Americans who sleep with or next to their mobile phones³
34%
Sleep with their phones on the bed
35%
Reach for their mobile device first thing in the morning
²Ben Rossi. “The great IT myth: is cloud really less secure than on-premise?” Information Age, March 2015. http://www.informationage.com/technology/security/123459135/great-it-myth-cloud-really-less-secure-premise ³Bank of America. 2015. Trends in Consumer Mobility Report. http://newsroom.bankofamerica.com/files/doc_library/ additional/2015_BAC_Trends_in_Consumer_Mobility_Report.pdf
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ONE CAMERAS Wearables, like body-worn cameras, represent the future of technology, with the potential to change the health, entertainment, and retail industries. With the rise of Fitbit and the release of the Apple Watch, American consumers have seen wearables enter the mainstream. Now, amid calls for greater investment in body-worn video programs from local and national leaders, body-worn cameras are becoming mainstays of law enforcement agencies. If wearables have transformed the way some view technology’s relationship with fitness, body cameras have altered how law enforcement officials do their jobs. Law enforcement officials rely on their cameras to provide an objective account of their interactions with civilians. Plus, the cameras have demonstrated a mediating effect on both parties, since people act differently when they know they’re on camera. Despite the rapid adoption rates for body-worn cameras, not every agency has made the transition, with only one-third of all agencies providing them to some patrol officers in 2013. And those that do provide them to their officers still grapple with processing requests for footage and crafting comprehensive policies that explain how the cameras should be used.
2016 LAW ENFORCEMENT TECHNOLOGY REPORT CURATED BY TASER | AXON
WHO USES CAMERAS? According to a 2015 Bureau of Justice report, a majority of departments said they were using in-car cameras, with 68% reporting using in-car systems.
USE OF IN-CAR VIDEO BY POLICE DEPARTMENTS
68%
67%
64%
73%
67%
All sizes
250,000+
50,000-249,999
10,000-49,999
Under 10,000
POPULATION SERVED
Around 33% of all departments reported deploying body-worn cameras on some officers. Those that did use body cameras employed nearly 25% of all officers.
BODY-WORN CAMERA USE
DEPARTMENTS THAT HAVE PROVIDED BODY-WORN CAMERAS
Bureau of Justice Statics report: Brian A. Reaves, Ph.D. “Local Police Departments, 2013: Equipment and Technology.” Bureau of Justice Statistics, July 2015. http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/lpd13et.pdf
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WHAT HAVE BEEN THE RESULTS?
USE OF FORCE DOWN BY
COMPLAINTS DOWN BY
75%
Mesa1
87%
Rialto
59%
Rialto2
70%
Birmingham
53%
Orlando3
65%
Orlando
47%
San Diego4
41%
San Diego
40%
Flagler County5
40%
Mesa
34%
Birmingham6
33%
London Met7
Lindsay Miller, Jessica Toliver, and Police Executive Research Forum. 2014. *Implementing a Body-Worn Camera Program: Recommendations and Lessons Learned. Washington, D.C.: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. http://www.policeforum. org/assets/docs/Free_Online_Documents/Technology/implementing%20a%20body-worn%20camera%20program.pdf 1
Barak Ariel, William A. Farrar, Alex Sutherland. The Effect of Police Body-Worn Cameras on Use of Force and Citizens’ Complaints Against the Police: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, November 2014. 2
Nick Wing. “Study Shows Less Violence, Fewer Complaints When Cops Wear Body Cameras.” The Huffington Post, October 2015. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/police-body-camera-study_561d2ea1e4b028dd7ea53a56 3
Tony Perry. “San Diego police body camera report: Fewer complaints, less use of force.” Los Angeles Times, March 2015. http://www. latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-body-cameras-20150318-story.html 4
Matt Bruce. “Flagler County sheriff extols use of body cameras.” The Daytona Beach News-Journal, October 2015. http://www. news-journalonline.com/article/20151019/NEWS/151019447/-1/frontpage?Title=Flagler-County-sheriff-extols-use-of-bodycameras&tc=ar 5
Carol Robinson. “Birmingham police body cameras bring drop in use of force, citizen complaints.” AL.com, September 2015. http:// www.al.com/news/birmingham/index.ssf/2015/09/birmingham_police_body_cameras_1.html 6
Lynne Grossmith, Catherine Owens, et al. “Police, Camera, Evidence: London’s cluster randomised controlled trial of Body Worn Video.” College of Policing and the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime, 2015. - Contains copyright jointly owned by the College of Policing Ltd and the Mayor’s Office for Policing And Crime (MOPAC) and licensed under the Non-Commercial Government Licence v1.0. 7
2016 LAW ENFORCEMENT TECHNOLOGY REPORT CURATED BY TASER | AXON
In Newport News, Virginia, recording DUI stops boosted the rate of guilty pleas in DUI cases from 70% to almost 90%—saving the city time and expenses.8
+ 0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
Body cams help with training. A survey of police executives found that over 90% said they trained officers with body camera footage1
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
The city of Rialto, California2 is estimated to have saved $4 in hard costs for every $1 spent on body cameras and Evidence.com
$4 was saved
For every $1 spent
SPOKANE PD SURVEY - CITIZENS THAT WERE FILMED9
97%
Support body cameras
86%
Cameras will improve police service
75%
Public should be warned before recording starts
72%
Officers should record even during sensitive investigations
53%
All body camera video should not be available to the public
TASER International. Newport News Case Study. 2015. https://taser-international.cdn.prismic.io/taser-international%2F95b712b1b440-48bd-9175-6fd00b25c8c8_newport-news-va-prosecutor-case-study.pdf 8
Timothy B. Schwering. Body Worn Camera Pilot Program Audit. Spokane Police Department Office of Professional Accountability, December 2015. https://static.spokanecity.org/documents/police/accountability/bodycamera/body-worn-camera-pilot-programaudit.pdf 9
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AN ISSUE PEOPLE AGREE ON
PUBLIC OPINION
91%
Americans who believe that body-worn cameras are a smart decision for agencies1
LAW ENFORCEMENT OPINION
74%
Of law enforcement officers support the use of body-worn cameras²
IMPORTANT QUALITIES OF BODY CAMERAS²
EASY TO USE
+
AFFORDABLE
60% of officers listed ease of use as one of the top desired qualities in a body-worn camera
47% of those same officers said price was the second most important quality
“Americans remain divided in views on race relations.” CBS News, December 2014. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/americansremain-divided-in-views-on-race-relations/ 1
² Westgroup Research & TASER survey, 2015.
2016 LAW ENFORCEMENT TECHNOLOGY REPORT CURATED BY TASER | AXON
LINGERING ISSUES THAT AGENCIES FACE
PROCESSING PUBLIC RECORDS REQUESTS •
•
Body cameras, in a way, blur the public and the private. What they record is considered video in the publics interest, yet at the same time what they film may include incredibly private information that could easily identify a person. Since body cameras may record such sensitive information, many agencies face time-consuming public records requests. Using current editing software, Washington, DC Metropolitan Police estimate that redacting footage from their pilot body-worn video program could take over 1 million hours—or almost 150 years—of work.2
1,000,000+ HOURS or Using current redaction software would take
NEARLY 150 YEARS
WHEN TO ACTIVATE •
Agencies are grappling with when they should be recording and who is responsible if something is missed. Features like automatic activation can help ensure that the right encounters are recorded every time.
RETENTION POLICIES •
Agencies need to keep footage for a certain amount of time in case of future litigation. Since retention policies are usually decided internally, agencies can tailor them to meet community preferences or cultural expectations.
WHO CAN VIEW WHAT & WHEN •
2
The question of whether officers can view footage before filing a report vexes agencies. On one hand, some argue that officers could lose credibility if they watch footage before filing a report. Others say that officers will be scrutinized regardless, and it’s better for statements to reflect the totality of the evidence available to them.
“Body-Worn Cameras: FAQs.” Metropolitan Police Department. http://mpdc.dc.gov/page/body-worn-cameras-faqs
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TWO MOBILE Nearly every American owns a cell phone. For some Americans, their phone is the last thing they see before falling asleep, and the first thing they turn to once awake. Smartphones have transformed how people engage with one another—and they’ve also emerged as a major player in law enforcement communication. In a recent survey we conducted with PoliceOne, nine out of ten law enforcement officials reported using a mobile phone for work-related communication, including calls, texts, emails, and sharing photos. Even though a large number of law enforcement officials use cell phones for work, few have agency-issued smartphones. Not having an agency-issued phone makes some officers wary; they fear that their personal phones could be subject to subpoena. Issuing phones to most officers or every officer is a costly endeavor for agencies. Yet devoting the financial resources to supplying officers with phones may reap them benefits, from efficiency savings to cutting crime. Some estimates suggest that the average officer can save up to 15 minutes or more each shift thanks to mobile technology. Plus, the technology has the potential to reach underserved groups, mobilizing young people, for example, to engage with their local law enforcement through what’s always by their side—their phones.
2016 LAW ENFORCEMENT TECHNOLOGY REPORT CURATED BY TASER | AXON
LAW ENFORCEMENT MOBILE USAGE FOR WORK
17% Have agency-issued smartphones
66%
Use their phones five or more times per day for work-related communication
91%
94%
92%
80%
Overall work-related communication
Calls
Texts
Emails
69%
27%
6%
21%
Sending photos
Sending videos
Push to talk
Other
AGENCIES THAT PROVIDE SMARTPHONES 100 80 60 40 20
Provide phones
Don’t provide phones
Provide some with phones
PoliceOne & TASER survey, 2015.
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APPS FOR CONSUMERS, PHONE USE = APP USE1
42%
Percentage of consumer app time spent on an individual’s most used app
57%
Percentage of smart phone users who access apps every day of a month
LAW ENFORCEMENT NEED APPS TOO NEXT GENERATION 911 Law enforcement in Lakewood, California use iLoc8, a 911 system that establishes a browser-to-browser data connection to improve location accuracy and learn about events faster. 2 REAL-TIME REPORTING Calls for Service, an Oakland app, provides real-time reports of crime and activity in the community, and has an internal dashboard for law enforcement. 3 FINGERPRINTING TECHNOLOGY The Denver Police Department is just one of several agencies that have taken advantage of mobile fingerprinting technology, which enabled the Denver PD to arrest an individual who had an outstanding warrant against him and lied about his name.4 Watch out for other apps that have defined purposes like evidence collection, in-field communication, and assisting with administrative tasks. These apps will let officers rely on their phones when in the field.
Kate Dreyer. “Over a Third of U.S. Smartphone Owners Download At Least One App Per Month.” Comscore, September 2014. http:// www.comscore.com/Insights/Data-Mine/Over-a-Third-of-US-Smartphone-Owners-Download-At-Least-One-App-Per-Month 1
Amanda Ziadeh. “New Jersey town brings real-time multimedia to 911 calls.” GCN, July 2015. https://gcn.com/articles/2015/07/24/ lakewood-911.aspx?admgarea=TC_Mobile 2
³ Patrick Marshall. “Oakland builds real-time crime apps for residents, police.” GCN, July 2015. https://gcn.com/blogs/emergingtech/2015/07/oakland-police-dashboard.aspx?admgarea=emergingtech ⁴ “Denver Police Turn To Mobile Fingerprint Technology.” CBS-Denver, September 2015. http://denver.cbslocal.com/2015/09/28/denverpolice-turn-to-mobile-fingerprint-technology/
2016 LAW ENFORCEMENT TECHNOLOGY REPORT CURATED BY TASER | AXON
RESULTS SAVING TIME AND MONEY
$7,600,000
~
Leicestershire Police saw large savings from 2008-11 due to the efficiency of mobile devices⁵
Using a digital evidence management system and a mobile app to capture and upload digital evidence from the field, Redmond PD is projected to save⁸
$1,100+ per officer each year
18 minutes
U.K. National Audit Office estimate for extra time spent out of the station after introducing mobile technology6
30 minutes was saved each day from not calling a dispatcher due to having mobile data access in Baltimore⁷
Additionally, Deloitte estimates that if all agencies had mobile data access, they could save:
50+ million hours
=
$1.3 billion
London Assembly Budget and Performance Committee. Smart policing: How the Metropolitan Police Service can make better use of technology. August 2013. https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/gla_migrate_files_destination/Police%20 technology%20report%20-%20Final%20version.pdf 5
⁶ Home Office and National Policing Improvement Agency. Mobile Technology in Policing. National Audit Office, January 2012. https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/10121765.pdf ⁷ William D. Eggers and Joshua Jaffe. “Gov on the go: Boosting public sector productivity by going mobile.” Deloitte University Press, February 2013. http://dupress.com/articles/gov-on-the-go/ ⁸ TASER International. R edmond PD Case Study. 2015.
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LINGERING CONCERNS CONCERNS ABOUT PERSONAL PHONES BEING SUBPOENAED1 Level of concern about personal phone being subpoenaed when used for work-related communication
Likelihood officers would use personal phone for work communication if their phone would not be subject to subpoena
25%
50%
20%
40%
15%
30%
10%
20%
5%
10% 1 Not at all
2
3
5
1
Very concerned
4
Not likely at all
2
3
4
5 Very likely
MAJOR INVESTMENT2
35,000 officers were covered by NYPD’s mobile technology program
$160 million was the total cost of their mobile technology program
¹ PoliceOne & TASER survey, 2015. 2 Tatiana Schlossberg. “New York City Police to Be Equipped With Smartphones and Tablets.” The New York Times, October 2014. http:// www.nytimes.com/2014/10/24/nyregion/new-york-city-police-to-be-equipped-with-smartphones-and-tablets.html
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THREE THE CLOUD As agencies have heard the call for body-worn cameras, they’ve increasingly had to face the issue of storing rapidly growing amounts of digital data. In a report to its city government, the San Antonio Police Department noted that shifting from in-car cameras to body cameras would raise their estimated storage needs by 33%—from 1,536 hours of footage per day to 2,048.1 For many agencies, managing digital evidence requires a cloud-based solution, since their departments lack the means to handle that much data on premise. Many analysts see cloud as the future of technology at large, with the dramatic potential of upending business models and whole industries. As a 2013 McKinsey Global Institute report suggested, the disruption of business models could give “rise to new approaches that are asset-light, highly mobile, and flexible.” 2 Despite this, some in law enforcement see the cloud as uncharted territory and not properly tested. They argue that they do not have the resources to support it and that it’s an overall risky proposition. For others, the cloud is an obvious solution and a next step forward for law enforcement technology. They argue that the cloud is like a bank, and storing data on premise is akin to keeping your cash under your bed: it’s simply not safe in the long run, even if its proximity provides comfort.
¹ “Briefing on the findings of a Police Body Worn Camera Pilot.” City of San Antonio, December 2014. https://sanantonio.legistar.com/ LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=2078220&GUID=94413091-99A9-4EFF-BD79-B742FF835681&FullText=1 ² James Manyika, Michael Chui, Jacques Bughin, Richard Dobbs, Peter Bisson, and Alex Marrs.Disruptive technologies: Advances that will transform life, business, and the global economy. McKinsey Global Institute, May 2013. http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/business_ technology/disruptive_technologies
E
2016 LAW ENFORCEMENT TECHNOLOGY REPORT CURATED BY TASER | AXON
LAW ENFORCEMENT USAGE
MORE THAN HALF OF AGENCIES are considering or already using the cloud3
79%
Government IT leaders say their software is housed primarily or completely on in-house hardware4
WHY AGENCIES ARE CONSIDERING THE CLOUD5
61%
Cost effectiveness
52%
Eliminates the need to manage their own software
34%
Replacing old apps
33%
New features
³ Richard A. Falkenrath. “Leveraging the Cloud for Law Enforcement.” 2013 LEIM Conference, May 2013. http://www.theiacp.org/ Portals/0/pdfs/LEIM/2013Presentations/2013%20LEIM%20Opening%20Plenary%20-%20Leveraging%20the%20Cloud%20for%20 Law%20Enforcement.pdf ⁴ Jason Shueh. “Agencies Want Cloud, But Legacy Costs Hinder Progress, Survey Says.” Government Technology, August 2015. http:// www.govtech.com/computing/Despite-Tight-Budgets-Cloud-Tech-Still-on-the-Rise.html ⁵ David J. Roberts. “Cloud Computing in Law Enforcement: Survey Results and Guiding Principles.” Technology Talk, The Police Chief, March 2013. http://www.policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/index.cfm?fuseaction=display_arch&article_id=2892&issue_id=32013
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LINGERING CONCERNS SECURITY Security remains the biggest concern for those adopting the cloud. With such new technology, IT professionals feel like they lack the expertise or knowledge to properly make the transition to the cloud and could then leave their data at risk. GENERAL PUBLIC CLOUD CHALLENGES 2015 VS. 2014 1 Among IT professionals (beyond law enforcement) 30%
2015
25%
2014
20% 15% 10%
Performance
Governance / Control
Managing costs
Managing multiple cloud services
Compliance
Security
Lack of resources / Expertise
5%
MOST PREFERRED SECURITY STANDARDS BY AGENCIES 2
68%
54%
20%
CJIS
Local / State
Other federal
77% of agency representatives said they knew that CJIS rules applied to email
10% said they had no knowledge of CJIS
RightScale. RightScale 2015 State of the Cloud Report. February 2015. http://keystone-ms.com.au/uploads/Resources/RightScale2015-State-of-the-Cloud-Report.pdf 1
² Richard A. Falkenrath. “Leveraging the Cloud for Law Enforcement.” 2013 LEIM Conference, May 2013. http://www.theiacp.org/ Portals/0/pdfs/LEIM/2013Presentations/2013%20LEIM%20Opening%20Plenary%20-%20Leveraging%20the%20Cloud%20for%20 Law%20Enforcement.pdf
2016 LAW ENFORCEMENT TECHNOLOGY REPORT CURATED BY TASER | AXON
POTENTIAL IMPACT OF A CYBER ATTACK 3 The greatest perceived impacts among law enforcement Loss of credibility of electronically stored records
Very serious Not serious at all
Loss of critical data in ongoing investigations Compromised investigations Officers put in danger (e.g. identites of undercover officers revealed) Loss of cases before the courts Loss of life (e.g. informant) 0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
CLOUD IS SECURE
“You only have to look at the number of penetration attacks that there have been on on-premise environments to see that statistically it has now been proven that people cannot manage security as well in their own on-premise environment.” Philip Turner, VP EMEA at Okta, a cloud computing company that offers access management software 4
“I think today the better bet is get to the cloud as quick as you can because you’re guaranteed almost to have better security there than you will in any private thing you can do.” U.S. CIO Tony Scott, one of the federal government’s top IT officials 5
International Association of Chiefs of Police & Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police. “Law Enforcement Perceptions of Cyber Security.” 2013 LEIM Conference, May 2013. http://www.theiacp.org/Portals/0/pdfs/LEIM/2013Presentations/2013%20LEIM%20 Conference%20Workshop%20-%20Technical%20Track%20-%20State%20of%20LEA%20INFOSEC.pdf 3
Ben Rossi. “The great IT myth: is cloud really less secure than on-premise?” Information Age, March 2015. http://www.informationage.com/technology/security/123459135/great-it-myth-cloud-really-less-secure-premise 4
⁵ Matt Kaplo. “U.S. CIO tells IT leaders to trust the cloud.” CIO, October 2015. http://www.cio.com/article/2996268/cloudcomputing/us-cio-tells-it-leaders-to-trust-the-cloud.html
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HOW SAFE IS YOUR ORGANIZATION?1
96% of public sector organizations have users with compromised identities
82%
6%
7%
of average organization users have at least one account that has been compromised
of surveyed IT professionals, including those in the public sector, indicated an insider threat
of companies had behavior indicative of an insider threat
THE COSTLIEST BREACHES ARE INSIDE JOBS2
$600,000,000
The CIA takes security seriously—and even they have a $600 million cloud contract3
¹ Skyhigh Networks. Cloud Adoption & Risk in Government Report Q1 2015. May 2015. https://uploads.skyhighnetworks. com/2015/05/20162559/Skyhigh-Cloud-Report-Q1-2015-Government-0415.pdf ² Stewart Draper. “Insider Attacks Were the Most Costly Breaches of 2015.” Securonix, October 2015. http://www.securonix.com/insider-attacks-were-the-most-costly-breaches-of-2015/ ³ Frank Konkel. “The Details About the CIA’s Deal With Amazon.” The Atlantic, July 2014. http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/07/the-details-about-the-cias-deal-with-amazon/374632/
2016 LAW ENFORCEMENT TECHNOLOGY REPORT CURATED BY TASER | AXON
INCIDENT FREQUENCY Frequency of incidents per impacted customer⁴
200
Cloud
180
On-premises
160 140 120 100 80 60 40
Ap pA tta ck
Bru te F orc e
Ac tivi ty Su spi cio us
Tro jan
20
Attacks are more likely to occur on-premise environments than cloud environments, but the cloud has seen a rising number of attacks as it’s gained prominence. Despite this trend, agencies on the cloud have the benefit of knowing that their cloud provider’s dedicated team of security professionals has their back, while those with on-premise servers must fend for themselves.
Steve Salinas, Martin Lee, Stephen Coty, Art Ehuan, and Sean Jones . Alert Logic Cloud Security Report: The Changing State of Cloud Security. December 2015. https://go.alertlogic.com/rs/239-ZBX-439/images/CSR_2015_Web.pdf?mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRonuqXJcu/ hmjTEU5z16u8lWKO1hYkz2EFye+LIHETpodcMTcNiN7zYDBceEJhqyQJxPr3HL9kNwNdlRhXhAQ== 4
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OTHER TRENDS WE’RE TRACKING In addition to cameras, mobile, and the cloud, we’ve seen law enforcement turn to other new technologies to help them serve their communities. We’ll keep note of what makes a mark in 2016 for our next report.
SOCIAL MEDIA Everyone is on social media nowadays—even law enforcement. Over 95 percent of the 553 agencies participating in a 2015 International Association of Chiefs of Police survey¹ said that they use social media. In the future, agencies can take advantage of apps like Nextdoor, a modern-day version of a community email list, to keep track of local developments and build relationships with those they serve. PREDICTIVE POLICING Using historical crime data, some agencies are turning to mathematical algorithms to predict future crimes. A UCLA-led study that followed the LAPD’s predictive policing methods found that their model correctly predicted locations of crimes 4.7% of the time, compared to the human analysts’ accuracy rate of 2.1%.²
¹ International Association for Chiefs of Police. “2015 Social Media Survey Results.” Fall 2015. http://www.iacpsocialmedia.org/Portals/1/ documents/FULL%202015%20Social%20Media%20Survey%20Results.pdf Stuart Wolpert. “Predictive policing substantially reduces crime in Los Angeles during months-long test.” UCLA Newsroom, October 2015. http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/predictive-policing-substantially-reduces-crime-in-los-angeles-during-months-long-test 2
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MACHINE LEARNING In addition to predictive policing, machine learning could automate day-to-day law enforcement processes, like report writing, redacting camera footage, and drafting transcripts to accompany videos. The future of policing looks more efficient, letting officers spend more time interacting with the community than processing paperwork. BIOMETRICS Fingerprinting has long been a staple law enforcement procedure, but facial recognition technology may soon render it a thing of the past. Facial recognition is much quicker than fingerprinting at identifying suspects, but it has proven controversial in a few cities that have adopted the practice. PLATFORMS, NOT PRODUCTS In the future, cameras, mobile, and the cloud can’t be considered separate technologies. As seen with Apple’s platform of consumer products and services, connected technologies streamline complicated processes. If agencies’ technologies work seamlessly together, their communities will notice more effective policing, which in turn will build trust.
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QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER Now that you’ve gotten an overview of the current state of law enforcement technology, here are some questions you should ask when considering adopting body cameras, mobile, and cloud technologies.
CAMERAS GENERAL: □ Who in my department needs to wear body cameras? □ How can my department ensure that the best account of every encounter is recorded? □ When will we have to activate the cameras? □ How will we roll out the cameras? □ How long will we retain camera footage? □ Who can access the footage? □ How do we ensure the footage is secure? □ How will we process public records requests? □ Do we want officers to have the ability to review videos prior to writing their report? QUESTIONS TO ASK PROVIDERS: □ What features do you have to ensure that the cameras record when they’re needed? □ Do your cameras connect to/work alongside other devices? □ Are your cameras able to record quality footage during nighttime hours? □ Can your cameras be muted? □ How easy are your cameras to wear and operate? □ How durable are your cameras? □ How long does the battery last? □ What training programs or services do you provide for roll-outs?
MOBILE GENERAL: □ Should my agency issue phones to officers? □ What roles need agency-issued phones? □ What are the consequences of having officers use their personal phones for work? □ What tasks are my officers currently doing that mobile applications could replace?
2016 LAW ENFORCEMENT TECHNOLOGY REPORT CURATED BY TASER | AXON
□ How are my officers capturing digital evidence in the field? □ Can officers upload evidence from the field using their current phones? □ What types of data plans would we consider for agency-issued phones? QUESTIONS TO ASK PROVIDERS: □ How secure are your applications? □ How secure is the evidence captured on officers’ phones? □ Can your applications let us livestream camera footage? □ Can your applications let us replay video from the field? □ Can your applications let us add metadata to evidence?
CLOUD / DIGITAL EVIDENCE MANAGEMENT GENERAL: □ What is the annual cost of IT, software, maintenance, etc. for my agency’s on-premise server? □ How predictable are our storage costs? □ What is the state of my agency’s IT resources (people, systems, budget, etc.)? □ How many CDs/DVDs has my agency burned in the past 5 years? How much time did that take? □ How do we determine who can access our stored evidence? □ How efficient is my storage workflow? □ How easy is it for us to upload and save evidence? □ How easy is it for us to search for and find needed evidence? □ How easy is it for us to share evidence with third parties? □ How many data silos do we maintain? Do we plan to consolidate them? How? □ If our data needs grow exponentially, how do we scale for that? □ Are we prepared for a disaster or our data being threatened? □ How do we track the chain of custody of evidence? □ How do we upgrade applications? QUESTIONS TO ASK PROVIDERS: □ Are you certified for CJIS and other security standards like ISO 27001? □ Are you able to redact footage? How about in bulk? □ Can your system integrate with CAD/RMS systems? □ Can you share evidence easily with prosecutors and other third parties? □ What analytics do you provide? □ Can you change file formats? □ Can you authenticate third-party evidence? □ Can you enhance images? □ What do you have for access controls? □ Do you offer multi-factor authentication options for user logins?
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Thanks for reading our report. We hope you are now armed with the information you need to make smart decisions about future technology for your agency. We will stay on top of these law enforcement technology trends and look forward to seeing how things evolve in 2016.
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