By: Katelin Stecz
Coral Gables cops get a technology upgrade
Like many Coral Gables residents, Officer Tanis starts his day at rush hour. From 7 to 8 am, he’s at Coral Gables Senior High, enforcing the speed limit so students can safely get to class. After that, he’ll head over to Somerset Gables Academy to do the same. Once traffic abates, he might handle a few accidents, but mostly he’s found at Coral Gables’ busiest intersections, keeping the community safe from reckless drivers. While Officer Tanis’ daily routine is fairly consistent, the recent introduction of new technology in the Coral Gables Police Department (CGPD) has transformed how he and fellow officers perform their duties.
“My officers are spending less time doing mundane paperwork, and more time out in the community.”
Chief Ed Hudak, Coral Gables Police Department
After a 12-month onboarding and training process, CGPD finally rolled out its new Mark43 software system on June 25. Even though the software has only been in use for a few months, CGPD Chief Ed Hudak says it has already made CGPD more effective. “My officers are spending less time doing mundane paperwork, and more time out in the community,” he says.
Mark43 works by making two critical systems in policing – dispatch and records management –more efficient. With its computer-aided dispatch (CAD), Mark43 uses geospatial technology to identify the nearest officer to the call. From there, the officer receives real-time information from dispatch, enabling them to assess the situation and determine if backup is necessary, all before arriving on-scene.
What sets Mark43 apart from traditional systems is cloud technology. Traditional dispatch centers rely on servers physically located in the city, making them vulnerable to natural disasters. By running on a cloud-native platform, Mark43 allows officers to operate from anywhere, under any condition, as long as they have a cell signal. “Officers save the day, but we help keep the system alive,” says Bob Hughes, CEO of Mark43.
Mark43’s record management system is also helping police officers cut down time spent on writing reports. According to Hughes, about half of an officer’s time is spent on paperwork. Speeding this up allows officers to spend more time on the street. “You look at police TV dramas, there’s a reason they’re so popular. It’s all the action. What they don’t show you are the hours and hours of paperwork,” says Hudak.
Having a faster and more accessible record system allows officers to share information more quickly with other agencies. As soon as a report is uploaded, other detectives and police departments across the wider community can see it. “I’ve got five departments that touch Coral Gables – Pinecrest, West Miami, South Miami, Miami-Dade, and Miami,” says Hudak. “I can send information seamlessly, so they know if something’s going on in my city and theirs. We can compare notes immediately instead of waiting for days.”
And due to Mark43’s instant upload system, officers have the most updated information about an individual at their fingertips. They know immediately if the person they just pulled over got a ticket for the same offense even just a day earlier. “I think, in time, we’re going to see that we’re solving more crimes on the street faster because we have this ability. What used to take a week to process… is now done almost overnight,” Hudak says.
Original Story: https://coralgablesmagazine.com/making-a-mark/
