When the Toledo Police Department (Toledo PD) in Oregon—a small agency serving 3,500 residents in Lincoln County—recognized the urgent need for a technology upgrade, they turned to Mark43 for a solution and strategic implementation partner. Confronted with a series of challenges, including an outdated legacy records management system (RMS), inefficient data-sharing and analytics capabilities, and the recent decommissioning of their dispatch center, Chief Michael Pace knew that a transition was essential to move the department forward. What followed was a remarkable 30-day deployment of Mark43 RMS and Analytics. Here’s how this deployment unfolded, and the valuable lessons other Chiefs, IT departments and agencies can take away from the Toledo PD’s successful transition:
Mark43 Implementation: A Hands-On Approach
Regardless of agency size or product, Mark43 takes a strategic approach to each implementation. The Toledo PD implementation exemplified this commitment. The Mark43 system is designed for and by public safety users, with initiative, ease-to-use workflows and processes. The technology is configurable and scalable —from the size and placement of buttons to data input reports and dashboards— to meet the agency’s specific needs.
The Mark43 implementation process involves a minimum of three onsite visits, structured across four distinct phases:
- App Set-Up Phase: Begins with in-depth meetings with the department to understand workflows and gaps, with the goal of setting up a testing environment for officers and dispatchers to start writing test reports and calls.
- Validation Phase: The department tests all systems and workflows, ensuring everything is running smoothly and satisfies the agency’s needs.
- Training Phase: Onsite, hands-on training sessions to get officers and leadership comfortable using the system through real-world scenarios.
- Launch Phase: Mark43 product and/or platform is launched, with the team onsite to offer real-time troubleshooting and immediate support to ensure deployment.
In Toledo, all four phases were completed in one week, with the system configuration taking just two days. The system was successfully launched on March 12, 2025, just one month after the contract was signed and announced.
Turning Challenges into Implementation Opportunities
In November 2024, the Toledo PD made the difficult, yet strategic decision to decommission its dispatch center and join the Willamette Valley Communications Center (WVCC), collaborating with surrounding agencies like Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office, Salem PD and Newport PD for a more streamlined, regional dispatching approach. With a desire for more efficient technology, the department under Chief Pace’s leadership recognized the potential to modernize its RMS for improved operations and community outcomes and saw value in a total technology overhaul—of CAD and RMS simultaneously—to uplevel agency operations. This led to the decision to select Mark43 RMS in February 2025. While major technology changes are significant undertakings, this also brought unique opportunities that played a key role in achieving the 30-day deployment:
- Opting Out of Data Migration: Due to the shortcomings of the legacy RMS system, Toledo PD chose not to migrate data. This decision was made to enhance data integrity and validation in the new Mark43 system, ultimately leading to an expedited go-live process.
- A Bold Embrace of New Technology: Upgrading technology can be a challenge, as it often involves overhauling workflows and processes that have been in place for decades. Change in bureaucracies is hard and typically results in natural resistance. However, the Toledo PD took a different approach. Chief Pace and his team embraced Mark43 RMS and Analytics as they were designed, without the need for unique configurations. This open-minded approach streamlined both implementation and training, ensuring a smoother transition to the new system.
- Collaboration with Regional Agencies: Toledo PD now joins Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office and Newport PD on the Mark43 platform, meaning 70% of the regional configurations and integrations were already in place. This was a significant advantage for Toledo PD, as state offense and citation codes were pre-configured within Mark43 RMS. Additionally, both Lincoln County and Newport operate their dispatch through WVCC, which meant the CAD integrations within Mark43 RMS were already established, further accelerating the process. Mark43’s implementation team, well-versed in Oregon agencies’ operations, challenges, and culture, played a key role in fostering effective communication and collaboration throughout the transition.
- Seamless Integrations and Interfaces: Customizing interfaces for an agency’s existing technology stack is often the most time-consuming aspect of an implementation project. However, with Mark43’s open API and ecosystem of over 150 integration partners, the Toledo PD team was able to seamlessly integrate their body camera and evidence systems linking interfaces into Mark43 RMS within just one day.
- A Small, But Mighty Team: Given the department size, Mark43 was able to build and structure customized training modules tailored to each staff member—including the Chief. This resulted in several “aha!” moments for evidence and records personnel, sharing how much easier Mark43 RMS and Analytics was going to make their day-to-day workstreams.
Effective Change Management and Adoption Starts at The Top
Beyond the unique challenges, the 30-day Toledo PD deployment offers valuable insights for law enforcement leaders seeking to enhance change management and drive buy-in across their departments.
While change can be daunting, the right mindset and organizational strategy—fostered by leadership—can significantly ease the implementation and adoption of new technologies. Much like developing muscle memory, the process may take time, but ultimately, the new system will become second nature. Chief Pace’s hands-on involvement and participatory role was crucial in the success of this initiative. By actively participating in training sessions alongside his officers, Chief Pace fostered a sense of shared commitment and accountability for the future of the Toledo PD. When challenges arose, he consistently reinforced the rationale behind the shift—emphasizing the need to move away from outdated legacy systems.
A Short Implementation, With Long-Term Impact
The Toledo PD’s rapid deployment of Mark43’s cloud-native RMS and Analytics has already made a notable impact across department workflows, empowering the agency to do more with less. From operating as an accurate system of record, to more effective and efficient use of real-time data for decision-making and resource allocation, and on-the-go reporting capabilities. Chief Pace shared, “Having a uniform, easy-to-use RMS is going to highly benefit our officers, especially when it comes to evidence reporting and management. Our previous process and system lack integrity and do not have the right checks and balances. With Mark43, I know our information and data will be locked in to keep things accurate, secure and integrated. And, if things need to be changed there will always be a clear audit trail and source of truth.”
He also anticipates the real-time and seamless intelligence sharing between Mark43 RMS, Analytics and the WVCC CAD system will drive better situational awareness and resource allocation for a safer community. He concludes, “Like every city or region, there are cross-border crimes. We can look up and see what is happening in surrounding counties, communicate and collaborate to solve crimes quicker. In a small county like us, that interoperability will really help our community a lot.”
To learn more about the Mark43 intelligent public safety platform, strategic implementation approach and customer success stories, book your demo today.
