Justice and public safety
Fulfilling the promise of equal and impartial justice for all
Justice and public safety professionals continue to face critical challenges and opportunities to build more integrated justice systems and community trust.
Our justice and public safety agencies–from police departments and emergency management to state courts and correction facilities–continue to undergo significant transformation. This transformation is driven by trends in cloud-enabled justice, comprehensive staffing and wellness initiatives, AI/ML-enhanced process automation, and a deeper consideration of how our communities are impacted by our justice and public safety systems.
As we head into 2024, overall crime rates across the US have dropped to pre-pandemic levels, yet the same data reveals a stark increase in hate crimes and juvenile crimes. This data serves as an alarming indicator of the declining state of civility in some parts of the country, with (85%) of those surveyed by the American Bar Association saying civility is worse today compared to 10 years ago.
These added pressures come at a time when our police officers, justices, and court administrators, to name a few, are already working hard to rebuild public trust and confidence in their services. Our law enforcement officers, in particular, must do so while facing a historic workforce crisis, and staffing shortages impacting response times and community trust.
Our justice and public safety agencies are looking to modern data and technology solutions to augment their capacities and meet these increasing demands. Take the state court system as an example: as courts struggle to handle the increasing backlog of court cases, they are modernizing court case management solutions that make information-sharing across the criminal justice system more possible.
We’re encouraged by the progress already made in adopting community-centric digital solutions and cloud technology to enhance public safety further and foster trust within our communities. Here are several trends on our radar for this year that will be crucial for fulfilling the promise of equal and impartial justice for all.
Data as a strategic asset: Creating insights to build trust with the people you serve
Recruitment, retention, and wellness: A crisis for law enforcement and corrections officers today
The pressure to be efficient and effective has never been higher: Integrated service models that create seamless administration of justice
1. Data as a strategic asset: Creating insights to build trust with the people you serve
Without comprehensive data, perceptions become the accepted reality. This goes for agencies as well the communities they serve. Our justice and public safety agencies collect an enormous amount of data stored in a variety of systems, including: records and case management, dispatch calls, forensic evidence, response time, use of force incidents, and video from body-worn cameras. With the large increase in data generated, law enforcement agencies are experiencing pain points around information silos; outdated technology systems; and labor-intensive manual processes for collecting, analyzing, and sharing information. As a result, these organizations are only beginning to unlock insights from their data, with a large gap between what’s being captured and shared publicly with the community.
This gap underscores the importance of not only collecting and analyzing data to inform public safety strategies, but also sharing externally. Engaging with the media and facilitating access to trends and appropriate data holds significant value for law enforcement agencies. This openness not only fosters accuracy in media narratives but also empowers citizens by providing them with the tools to understand and contextualize public safety information for themselves. We have observed first-hand how these actions can build trust in law enforcement agencies and encourage a well-informed community dialogue around public safety policies and practices.
Actions and models to consider:
As you embrace modern data and cloud technologies as a way to gain efficiencies and build trust with the people you serve, start thinking of your data as a strategic asset in how you engage with the community.
Start by embracing the cloud as a cornerstone of your digital strategy, assess current infrastructure, and identify key areas where cloud integration can yield immediate benefits and enhance security. As you invest in and deploy advanced analytics tools to identify insights across your data, develop a strategy to effectively share key insights with the public proactively.
We've shared an example here of how justice and public safety organizations can use these strategies to foster trust and collaboration with their communities.
CREATING POLICE TRANSPARENCY WITH TRUST AND DATA
The Oakland Police Department had been under federal oversight for 17 years due to a high-profile civil rights lawsuit known as the Riders Scandal. One of the reforms the Oakland PD implemented was a way to track all of its police activity data and use that to reduce bias in its policing. The PD released public-facing crime dashboards built on modern analytics platforms that clearly visualize police activity, including stops, uses of force, and complaints at the squad and department levels. This transparency has built trust between the community and its law enforcement officers. While the data in this dashboard is specific to Oakland, the tools and techniques are applicable to any police department, anywhere.
This is a huge deal. No other police department has a system like this that combines the data about stops with all of the other traditional early intervention data elements.
Learn more about this case study.
2. Recruitment, retention, and wellness: A crisis for law enforcement today
With rising diseases of despair—a term for behavioral-related conditions related to alcohol dependency, substance misuse, and suicidal thoughts—the role of our law enforcement officers is blurred between public safety, social worker, and healthcare worker. The demands of the profession, by its very nature, challenge our justice and public safety professionals, both physically and mentally. A growing number of firefighters, police officers, emergency medical personnel, and 911 dispatchers are being diagnosed with behavioral health issues, such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD); many report being afraid of the possibility of losing their jobs if they seek professional help, often provided by their own agency. Beyond police officers and other front-line personnel, non-sworn staff (e.g., forensics lab technicians to system administrators) who are just as vital for the proper functioning of public safety departments experience the same stressors.
For law enforcement specifically, despite an increase in the raw numbers of law enforcement jobs, the ratio of residents to police officers is actually declining, given the considerable growth in the U.S. population. This means that officers are responsible for serving more people—often with fewer resources. These are part of the many factors contributing to the challenges agencies face in recruiting and retaining qualified talent.
Last year, the United States Attorney General, recognizing the need for a national discussion, convened law enforcement and community leaders to examine and identify how the nation might move forward in addressing police workforce challenges and meeting our communities' needs. These recommendations focused on:
Streamlining and modernizing the hiring processes and supporting technology
Focusing more on employee wellness and mental well-being
Finding ways to address the need for greater transparency and accountability throughout one’s service to promote public confidence
In addition, there’s a strong push for our public safety professionals to better reflect the diversity of the communities they serve. Agencies are working to ensure that their recruitment materials reflect their commitment to demographic diversity. Women, for example, comprise only 12% of sworn police officers across the US today (and 3% of police leadership). The underrepresentation of women in policing undermines public safety as the business case is clear that female sworn officers achieve better policing results in several areas (e.g., use less excessive force and better outcomes for crime victims). Targeted strategies and tactics aimed at recruiting for certain types of talent (women, people of color) are gaining traction and showing positive results.
Here, we’ve shared some actions and models to consider as you tackle the recruiting, retention, and well-being goals of your agency.
Start by investing in organizational and cultural assessments to understand the agency’s areas of strength and opportunity for developing a highly motivated, healthy workforce. As you conduct the organizational assessment, include the voices of residents and their concerns about public safety as part of the assessment, along with internal organizational, and talent factors.
Use the insights gained from the assessment to define a talent strategy that addresses recruitment, retention, advancement, and diversity. Explore the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) strategies and tactics that are emerging in the 30x30 initiatives nationwide to advance the representation and experiences of women in policing.
Develop and implement a comprehensive wellness program that includes mental health and stress management resources for your staff. As staffing shortages reside, consider integrating use of flexible work arrangements that contribute to a healthy work-life balance. Finally, develop baseline metrics and implement a pilot to track, measure, and build on success.
3. The pressure to be efficient and effective has never been higher: Integrated service models that create seamless administration of justice
Our justice and public safety agencies are under increasing pressure to operate more efficiently, effectively, and seamlessly through integrated systems and joint incident response. Integrated justice is the name we often use to describe this goal of seamless interoperability, collaboration, and interagency data-sharing across the end-to-end criminal justice system—from police, courts, and jails to victim service and social service organizations.
We’re seeing increased use of integrated service delivery models supported by modern data and technology. The actions already taken by some jurisdictions provide a model that other agencies can also embrace. Together, we’re transforming how criminal justice agencies can break down organizational, data, and technical silos, and put the service back into public service.
Integrated service delivery models. Federal agencies have demonstrated the success of the National Information Exchange Model (NIEM), jointly designed by the U.S. Departments of Justice, Homeland Security and Health and Human Services. NIEM lays the foundation for interoperability with its common data model and enterprise-wide informational standards. As our criminal justice agencies move away from their legacy systems to embrace modern, secure cloud and data platforms (that meet CJIS and other security requirements), the vision for a more integrated justice system is becoming more feasible to implement at the state and local levels.
One example of these emerging models are the victim-centric service delivery models we’re seeing agencies embrace. These alternative models are gaining traction and showing success, such as co-responder models where social workers or mental health professionals dispatch together or respond to calls for service on the scene jointly with first responders. Some jurisdictions are co-locating mental health professionals alongside 911 dispatchers to counsel the caller needing help, which results in better outcomes for dispatchers and for the individual needing assistance.
Court case management modernization. State and local efforts to modernize court case management systems provide another example of how government is embracing human-centered design approaches with integrated systems. Several states, including the Arkansas Administrative Office of the Courts, are using American Rescue Plan (ARPA) funds to modernize and build cutting-edge court records systems and a more seamless and interoperable statewide case management system.
The value of doing things differently is already visible. In Arkansas specifically, some immediate benefits are better public access to court information and improved functionality that allows self-represented litigants to conduct business with the courts. Because employees were involved in co-creating the new system with its vendor, the office is experiencing the added benefit of upleveling the skills of its employees and creating a more responsive and agile environment where employees can thrive.
Data, AI/ML, and cloud technologies. As more agencies adopt modern cloud and data technology, they are becoming better equipped to visualize and share agency insights with the public. On the back end of the technology, interoperability is improved through use of more federated data management and data governance practices that connect justice and public safety data across jurisdictions and levels of government.
Further, cloud-based technologies and services like intelligent automation, AI, and ML tools are helping agencies deliver value faster through their technology investments. Leaders should think deeply about using AI/ML in general—and generative AI (GenAI) specifically—to drive service improvements and promote four essential values: timeliness, access, fairness, and effectiveness. For example, many jurisdictions are setting up specialty courts for issues like drug crimes. Can AI/ML and automation drive better results in these arenas? Can AI/ML be used to identify and fight ingrained bias and find equitable outcomes across the justice system? We believe the answer is yes. These existing and emerging technologies can be used responsibly and ethically to deliver better justice outcomes.
Take intelligent data processing (IDP) as an example. IDP can digitize the physical forms for case management system consumption, thereby reducing the time required to initiate the case. While still early in its adoption, responsible and ethical use of AI/ML holds significant potential to make justice more efficient and identify where areas of bias exist in the justice system today.
While the road to true interoperable and integrated justice is a long one, agencies that integrate these strategies and tactics will improve their operational effectiveness, build stronger, more trusting relationships with the communities they serve, and be well-equipped to meet the challenges of tomorrow.
As you design new integrated service delivery models, start by understanding the pain points and the journey that victims, callers, parolees, and residents are experiencing today. Design the process to meet not just agency needs, but the needs of the people you serve, and leverage technology to bring the redesigned journey to life.
One model is the City of Tempe, Arizona’s use of joint crisis intervention training (CIT) and teams that train Tempe police officers on how to respond to behavioral and mental health crises when responding to calls for service, and also in mental health first aid and crisis intervention training.
Georgia’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Council's (CJCC) statewide tracking system provides a model for how interdependent agencies can operate in a more integrated way to handle, process, and store sexual assault kits (SAKs), offering assurances to victims that their cases do matter.
At the federal level, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is leading the way in rebuilding trust in government through customer-focused service delivery models. Within DHS, the Citizenship and Immigration Services modernized its internal- and public-facing E-Verify and SAVE systems that are used to confirm individual eligibility for benefits and employment, increasing the speed and accuracy of millions of transactions related to immigration services.
As you explore the use of cloud-based tools like intelligent automation, AI, and ML, think about how its use can promote four essential values: timeliness, access, fairness, and effectiveness. Here are use cases to consider:
Use of intelligent document processing to digitize the data from certain incident forms, such as domestic violence incidents, to identify high-priority/high-risk cases.
Use of AI/ML to synthesize large amounts of data/content to identify trends and patterns in crime data.
Develop ethical guidelines, data privacy, and security norms to ensure responsible and effective use. Start with a proof of concept (POC) and progress to an enterprise strategy.
Most importantly, as we take these early steps, have humans review the output since AI learning models can make errors.
Slalom contributors: Gretchen Peri, Eric Lohela, Kevin Magnan
