Public Safety Digital Transformation: "To Protect and Serve"

The nature of maintaining public safety is to maintain a visible presence by putting highly mobile patrol officers out in the field. Ready access to data is increasingly vital to allow patrol officers to do their best in their difficult and dangerous task to protect and serve.

Public Safety: The Key to Better Government & Society

Primary Cost Drivers. In any Police Department, the key cost drivers of the budget are labor costs for patrol officers and operations costs for patrol vehicles and ancillary equipment. Both of these cost categories are inflationary, rising over time; the challenge cities face is to maintain a high level of public safety and not go broke doing so.

Unrecoverable Administrative Time. Police department budgets suffer a process inefficiency: "unrecoverable administrative time" of as much as 30 minutes per hour of the patrol officer's typical day, which opens the door for savings. Simply put, much of the patrol officer's time is spent waiting, driving from one place to another and documenting activity in written reports.

Vehicle Costs. The costs to own and operate a police cruiser are being driven up by the rising cost of gasoline.

Better Public Safety Means Lower Costs AND a Safer Environment

New Field Digital Processes, Applications and Equipment

Field Digital Processes. Access to broadband data in the field lets police officers a) identify criminals for more arrests; b) automatically write tickets and generate more revenue; and c) use slack time in the field to compile reports, allowing them to stay on patrol longer each shift.
Field Digital Applications. Voice over IP (VOIP) cuts cell phone costs; Video surveillance puts more eyes in the field to reduce crime; Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) generates more tickets and revenue.
Field Digital Equipment. Networked digital equipment (cameras, laptops, light bars, & phones) complete the picture.

Transformation by the Numbers

This sample quantitative analysis of police department business processes and business case projection demonstrates the dramatic savings available when the tasks of protection and service are viewed in new ways.

Labor & Operations Efficiency

Step One: Analysis. A departmental review of business processes and costs shows the following:

Annual Cost of one patrol officer:
a. Initial Training: $70,000
b. Salary, loaded: $60,000
c. Vehicle: $40,000
d. Operations: $10,000
e. Overtime: 50 hours (1 hr/week)
f. Cellular voice: $480 ($40/mo)
g. Air Card (data): $720 ($60/mo)

Cost of one missed ticket:
a. $50

Cost to fight one frivolous lawsuit for false arrest:
a. $5,000

Step Two: Strategy. With an integrated wireless broadband network, enable a) patrol officers to complete reports in the field to avoid overtime; b) more efficient dispatch to reduce drive time; c) reduction of crime & lawsuit costs through video surveillance cameras; and d) automatic tickets through license plate recognition software & cameras to generate more revenue.

Step Three: Running the Numbers.

a. Reduce Overtime Costs
Assume 1 hour/officer/week @ 50 weeks = 50 hours saved @ $45/hour = $2,250 savings / officer
b. Reduce Trips to Headquarters
Assume 5 roundtrips/officer/week @ 50 weeks = 250 roundtrips @10 miles/roundtrip = 2500 miles saved @ $1/mile = $2,500 savings / officer
c. Reduce Cellular & Air Card Costs
Assume elimination of a $60/month air card and reduction of $40/month cellular voice plan by average of 75% = $720 + $360 = $1,080 savings / officer
d. Reduce frivolous lawsuit costs
Assume avoidance of one frivolous lawsuit per year for every 10 officers = average $500/officer per year
e. Increase Ticket Revenue
Assume one missed ticket/2 shifts @ $50/ticket= $25/shift @ 250 shifts/year = $6,250 increased revenue / officer

Summary: Savings & New Revenue
$2,250+$2,500+$1,080+$500+$6,250 = $12,580/officer/year @ seven-year project = $88,060/officer over the life of the project

As the Police Department gets more effective with these new tools, we can add one more assumption: in Year 3, the planned addition of one more officer to the force is canceled, which results in five years of savings, for an additional savings of $70,000+5*($110,000) = $620,000.

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