How public safety and law enforcement professionals serve their communities continues to change alongside advancing technology and innovative approaches. The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Annual Conference and Exposition (IACP 2024) held in historic Boston gave us the opportunity to hear from leaders in the industry on what matters most to them. Their focus revolved around equipping their agencies with innovative solutions for today's challenges and those of tomorrow.
Throughout the event, we engaged in insightful conversations with attendees about the issues they're facing both within their organizations and in the field. These discussions revealed common themes and shared viewpoints on several topics, including proactive health and wellness, Artificial Intelligence as a supportive tool and evolving community engagement initiatives.
Taking Innovative Approaches
Proactive Health & Wellness
The conversation around mental health has become more normalized in society, reducing stigma and encouraging open dialogue about the importance of receiving support. Public safety is no exception. IACP 2024 made it clear that wellness is a key area of focus for many agencies, driven by studies highlighting the disproportionately high rate of mental health challenges throughout the industry. Organizations are now shifting away from traditional, reactive procedures and toward holistic programs that address personnel health proactively.
While technology can support these initiatives, they are ineffective without key staff and leadership empowering their teams to leverage the platform. For example, Versaterm's suite of health and wellness-focused solutions can connect personnel to relevant, confidential resources alongside advanced early identification for peer support leaders. With this level of supervisory oversight, agencies are better equipped to recognize those struggling before more serious issues develop. This reinforcement creates an environment centered around well-being where personnel can receive assistance no matter their challenge.
Professional Standards
Today's high-expectation public safety environment poses significant challenges to agencies as they work to uphold Professional Standards. Attendees vocalized a need for case management and internal documentation that provide a more efficient way to manage professionalism consistent with what their community expects. From supervisory oversight to early intervention initiatives and organizational accountability, there is a desire to determine the best approaches for sustaining agency integrity.
Technology is available that supports these procedures and can even help leaders identify patterns of employee misconduct, behavioral or performance shortfalls, including use of force incidents. These solutions, such as Versaterm IAPro, alert in advance of issues that could, if left unchecked, put the public and the agency’s reputation at risk. From initial report to final disposition, tracking all aspects of a Professional Standards investigation ensures that every interaction leads to a positive experience for community members.
Community Engagement Initiatives
Making service excellence the new standard is a priority that many attendees outlined during IACP 2024. Expectations placed on public safety are higher than ever before, and organizations are seeking out ways to better connect with community members. One piece of these relationships, transparent communication, is a key topic of focus. Facilitating an approach that keeps 9-1-1 callers, victims of crime and reporting parties updated on the status of their case, while also having the ability to provide feedback on their experiences, has become a goal for many agencies.
Alongside community engagement initiatives, technology can enhance these workflows to streamline agency-community communication. For instance, some tools, like Versaterm CommunityConnect (formerly SPIDR Tech), leverage automated messages to follow up with relevant individuals as a case progresses. Along with updates, these solutions can also automatically send surveys to gather insights on what an agency did well and how they can improve their interactions with members of the public. This level of transparency helps agencies build goodwill by serving people the way they want to be served.
Leveraging Purpose-Built Technology
Advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Artificial Intelligence, or AI, continues to be a hot topic throughout the industry. Many attendees looked to understand how AI could be leveraged within their organizations while still upholding data security. Commonly known, one-dimensional chatbots create unnecessary security risks and lead to a gap in compliance. However, technology like advanced conversational AI can streamline how agencies serve their communities.
Versaterm's CallTriage and CommunityReport, for example, use this technology to help agencies communicate efficiently and provide automated assistance. From triaging non-emergency calls to automating the report taking and creation processes, this allows teams to focus more on higher-priority incidents while still providing other members of the public with the level of service they expect. This enhanced response instills confidence among community members, fostering stronger relationships.
Cloud-Based Solutions
The rapid advancement of public safety technology has made having the most updated hardware unfeasible for many agencies. IACP 2024 furthered the conversation around the shift from on-premises to the cloud, especially from a computer-aided dispatch (CAD) and records management system (RMS) perspective. While agencies still want the choice between on-premises and the cloud, they desire an offering that provides the same best-in-class features regardless of deployment and without compromise.
Attendees voiced interest in CAD and RMS solutions that are full-featured whether they are hosted in the cloud or on-premises. These systems, including Versaterm CAD and RMS, receive new maintenance and updates faster and straight from the vendor. This streamlined external management alleviates agency dispatch and IT workload, freeing up valuable resources. Additionally, a continuous delivery model ensures that agencies always have the latest capabilities without additional hardware investments, facilitating future-proofing through faster deployment.
Public Safety Ecosystem
From call to case closure, solutions equipped to support every stage of the public safety process have become increasingly important. Agencies continue to be interested in technology that can work together to enhance their operations and allow them to focus more on those they serve. Insights we gathered from our discussions during IACP 2024 further highlighted this desire for end-to-end support focused on user experience.
Versaterm's ecosystem for public safety aims to achieve this, helping organizations meet tomorrow’s mission-critical and community needs today. Our purpose-built solutions achieve new efficiencies and foster safer communities without the need for constant upgrades and changing hardware. Strategic acquisitions, such as Mindbase, also expand our ability to support processes from key operations to day-to-day workflows. While our solutions can work independently or connect with most third-party integrations, leveraging these tools together links work to outcomes more efficiently.
Connect With Us in Denver for IACP 2025
We had a wonderful time at IACP 2024, connecting with attendees and showcasing our purpose-built ecosystem. Conversations like these inspire us to continue innovating to meet the modern challenges public safety and law enforcement professionals face. We look forward to continuing these discussions and reconnecting at IACP 2025 in Denver next year, and we hope to see you there at Booth 1373.
Connect with us today to learn more about our purpose-built ecosystem for public safety.