Three ways technology can help small and rural police agencies create more operational capacity
Small and rural police departments face many of the same policing challenges as larger agencies, but often with far fewer people available to deal with them.
A chief still needs to protect the community, investigate crime, safeguard victims, manage digital evidence, support prosecutors and make sure officers are available when the next call comes in. The difference is that, in a smaller department, the resources available to manage all of that can look very different.
An investigator may be interviewing victims one day, collecting evidence the next, liaising with prosecutors, managing case files and supporting patrol in between. Specialist resources might be based in another department, another county or even another part of the state.
This is where the right technology can make a difference. Not by replacing experienced officers, but by helping them spend less time on unnecessary processes and more time on the work that relies on their judgement, experience and policing skills.
For small and rural departments, there are three areas where that can have a particularly useful impact.
1. Give officers time back
For a small department, taking an investigator away from other duties for several hours can have an immediate impact on the rest of the team.
Take a witness interview as an example. If the witness lives an hour away, a one-hour interview can easily become a three-hour task once travel and the surrounding administration are taken into account. When there are only a limited number of investigators available, those extra hours matter.
Of course, there will be interviews where being physically present is the right approach. But there will also be occasions where the important thing is having the conversation, rather than everyone travelling to the same location.
Secure remote interviewing gives investigators that option.
With MeaConnexus, an investigator can invite someone to a secure interview through a browser-based link sent by SMS or email, either immediately or at a scheduled time. Victims, witnesses and other participants can therefore speak to an investigator without automatically requiring either party to travel.
The benefit goes beyond saving mileage. It can give valuable time back to the department, whether that is used for victim contact, following up leads, progressing another case or supporting patrol.
Technology should make an investigator’s working day easier to manage, rather than adding another layer of administration to it.
2. Extend the capability of the people you already have
Larger departments may have dedicated specialist units available in-house. Smaller agencies are often working differently, with officers covering a broader range of responsibilities and calling on specialist expertise when it is needed.
That expertise may already be available, just not in the same building.
For example, an investigator conducting a challenging interview may benefit from input from an experienced supervisor or specialist investigator. With MeaConnexus, an authorised Silent Observer can watch and listen to an interview without being visible or audible to the participant, while communicating privately with the interviewer.
That person could be in the next office, another department or hundreds of miles away. The investigator can access the support they need without delaying the interview simply because the right person cannot be there physically.
The same principle applies when language is a barrier. Where the feature is enabled, MeaConnexus can provide real-time translated captions and support participants speaking different languages during the same interview. This does not replace a professional interpreter where one is required, but it gives departments another option when language support is not immediately available.
Technology can also make everyday evidence collection more practical. Most investigators already carry a capable digital capture device in the form of a smartphone, and MeaFuse allows officers to use it to capture images, video, audio and other digital material while protecting the information and maintaining its chain of custody.
That could include documenting property damage, recording observations or gathering digital material supplied by a victim.
A smaller department may not have every specialist resource immediately to hand, but that does not mean its officers should be limited by where those resources happen to be located.
3. Make the evidence defensible from the beginning
Establishing where evidence came from and what happened to it after collection has always been part of police work. With digital evidence now playing such a significant
role in everyday investigations, being able to demonstrate that history is becoming even more important.
Photographs, videos, audio, online material and digitally generated content can all form part of a case, while the tools available to edit and manipulate digital material continue to become more accessible.
As a result, the question may not simply be what a video or image shows. Investigators and prosecutors may also need to demonstrate where it came from, whether it has changed and who has had access to it.
That makes evidential integrity something to consider from the moment digital material is captured, rather than something to establish later if it is challenged.
Both MeaConnexus and MeaFuse have been developed with that in mind.
When a MeaConnexus interview is completed, a SHA-256 hash is generated and recorded through its validation process. If the original recording is subsequently altered, the hash will no longer match. An evidential interview package can also contain the recording, transcription, chat information, validation statement and material shared during the interview.
MeaFuse takes the same approach to digital evidence captured or received by an investigator, creating a protected record of the material and its chain of custody.
For investigators and prosecutors, this provides a clearer way to demonstrate where digital evidence came from and why it can be trusted.
Technology should make a small department stronger, not more complicated
Small and rural agencies already deliver a significant amount of policing with limited resources, so adding more technology is not automatically the answer.
In fact, poorly designed technology can create exactly the opposite of what is needed: more systems to manage, more passwords, more administration and more demands on people who are already stretched.
The more useful question is whether the technology solves a genuine operational problem. Can it reduce unnecessary travel, help an investigator reach a victim sooner or make specialist support easier to access? Can an officer capture evidence securely using equipment they already have, while giving the department a clearer record of where that evidence came from and what happened to it afterwards?
That is the thinking behind MeaConnexus and MeaFuse. Both are designed around the realities of investigative work, from engaging people and conducting interviews to capturing information, preserving evidence and demonstrating its integrity.
Because while the size of a police department may vary considerably, the importance of the work it carries out does not.
About Mea Digital Evidence Integrity
The Mea Digital Evidence Integrity suite of products has been developed by UK based consultancy, Issured Ltd. Benefitting from years of experience working in defence and security, Issured recognised the growing threat from digital disinformation and developed the Mea Digital Evidence Integrity Suite of products to ensure digital media can be trusted.
MeaConnexus is a secure investigative interview platform designed to protect the evidential integrity of the interview content. With features designed to support and improve effective investigations, MeaConnexus can be used anytime, anywhere and on any device, with no need to download any software.
MeaFuse has been designed to protect the authenticity and integrity of any digital media from the point of capture or creation anywhere in the world. Available on iOS, Android, Windows and MacOS MeaFuse digitally transforms the traditional chain of custody to ensure information is evidential.
Disclaimer and Copyright
The information in this article has been created using multiple sources of information. This includes our own knowledge and expertise, external reports, news articles and websites.
We have not independently verified the sources in this article, and Issured Limited assume no responsibility for the accuracy of the sources.
This article is created for information and insight, not intended to be used or cited for advice.
All material produced in the article is copyrighted by Issured Limited.
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