Police departments everywhere are investing in digital policing initiatives to better safeguard the public. Yet, the exponential growth in digital data from an increasing number of sources, like body camera video and private and public CCTV footage, now presents the challenge of how to effectively process all of this siloed information.

“Investigators today face some tough challenges: collecting and securely sharing potential evidence is surprisingly manual and time-consuming, while analysing the disparate pieces to recreate the ‘who, what, where, when and why’ of an incident is more complicated than ever,” noted Ed Davis, former Boston Police Commissioner. “A software solution that addresses these issues and leads to higher case clearance rates would be invaluable to any police department.”

“Investigators today spend too much time identifying, collecting, and copying digital evidence from various sources – including video from citizens, private and public CCTV video, audio recordings, photos, and more – and lack tools to organise and make sense of all the different pieces,” said Chris Wooten, Executive Vice President, Nice. “At the same time, budgets are flat and workloads are increasing. Inefficient processes threaten to delay investigations, incident resolution, and prosecution. Nice has leveraged its experience working with thousands of police departments and its expertise in information management for emergency communications centres to develop a solution that addresses these issues.”

Nice Investigate improves investigator efficiency and effectiveness through four core capabilities.  

Firstly, compatibility with multiple evidence sources. Nice Investigate integrates data from most existing applications and sources, including CAD and RMS systems, body camera video, physical evidence like photos and documents, public and private CCTV video, in-car video, interview recordings, citizen tips, 911 audio recordings, gunshot detection systems, automated license plate readers (ALPRs), social media and more. This enables police departments to collapse information silos, choose best-in-class systems from leading providers, and protect investment in existing systems.

Then, automated workflow: The solution expedites case building by organising evidence into a digital case folder, using a powerful correlation engine to suggest potential evidence, and enabling investigators to electronically initiate requests for evidence and evidence processing.

Thirdly, content analytics and visualisation: Content analytics examines digital content from connected sources, and visual tools display the information, making important patterns and relationships easier to understand. By uncovering more relevant information and visualising it in useful ways, crimes that would otherwise go unsolved can be successfully prosecuted.

And finally, secure collaboration and sharing: Investigators can easily and securely share evidence electronically, enabling multiple investigators within an agency or across agencies to collaborate on a case while maintaining chain of custody and integrity of the evidence. Investigators no longer waste valuable time copying and transporting digital evidence for prosecutors.