Shooting, Training, and “Alpha Females”: Lessons in Police Technique

Police say the shooting and related problems were the result of a conflict between two rival families in a specific part of Laredo, a city in South Texas on the Mexican border.

Just a year or two ago, investigators would have methodically gathered evidence and other information and then spent days trying to figure out the details of the problems, including mapping the incidents.

Now, the department has used a digital heat map that police can use to quickly pinpoint the location of incidents, which in turn helps them determine what’s really going on and send in extra officers.

The result? A 19 percent drop in firearm-related incidents in just a few months.

Heat maps are nothing new, of course, but they are an example of how new cloud-based software — in this case sold to Laredo by Tyler Technologies — can help departments keep up with crime waves even as some agencies grapple with staffing shortages and other issues that could strain municipal budgets.

Nevertheless, implementing such technology may pose certain challenges.

According to Officer Stephen Garza, who works in the department’s information technology division, the move to cloud computing in Laredo was a necessity.

“We have a very small IT department here,” he said. Government Technology“and we’ve had more than one way out of this situation when it comes to filling this position as a network administrator.”

He added that cloud-based technology also makes it easier for the department to meet digital security requirements.

Tyler’s software package can do more than just create heat maps.

Other tasks include moving manual reporting and analysis to the digital sphere — which the department says saves three working days per investigation — and using traffic data to better identify the most dangerous intersections and roads.

The software also supports the department’s ongoing crime-fighting activities.

In addition, the technology plays into the natural competitive nature of many police officers, as the software offers a clear view of the latest police statistics in Laredo, numbers that officers can review.

“Everyone is really competitive, so when they see someone’s stats go up, they work harder,” Garza said. “It’s an alpha male mentality.”

This does not mean, however, that all officers have fully accepted the technology, at least judging by the instructions required to familiarize officers with the software.

“The training became a little tedious,” Garza said, because some officers seemed more interested in highlighting what they perceived as shortcomings in the technology than in showing their colleagues how to use it.

The lesson? Be careful when choosing your coaching team.

But with the retirement of older officers, the job should become easier, according to Investigator Joe Baeza, the department’s public information officer. He’s been a cop for more than 20 years, which means he learned the job using a lot of paper processes.

“But the department is quite young now,” he said. Government Technology“For them, technology is not something to be afraid of.”