Peregrine 101: Empowering command staff to do more with available resources

For police departments in 2021, there was a 45% increase in retirements and an 18% jump in resignations year over year. With fewer officers, shifts are longer and everyone within the department is stretched thin. The Police Executive Research Forum notes recruitment and retention “is the number-one challenge facing police departments of all sizes,” so the need to be able to do more with less today is imperative for public safety agencies across the country.

Command staff need partners that will help them empower their department to keep communities safer with less resources. Peregrine is the first decision infrastructure platform that enables Public Safety personnel to make better decisions in every high leverage moment, enabling department leadership to better deploy resources and data-driven policing strategies that will keep people safe and ensure every hour and every dollar spent is driving the most value for the communities law enforcement serves.

More efficient, data-driven policing

Command staff oversee their entire organization. They are responsible for the safety of their officers and set department-level priorities, like reducing violent crime or reducing times for calls for service within their jurisdictions.

In a time of limited resources, efficiency is foundational to effective public safety, but siloed, disparate data make formulating and implementing data-driven strategies – plans that truly address the root causes of crime – too challenging.

Staff must look across a dozen or more systems for pertinent information, identify and mine the data, collate it in one place, ensure its accurate and up to date, organize the data so that it can be easily understood, and then provide sufficient explanations to contextualize the information. Sometimes there are even more steps, like plotting the data on a map or within a graph. Only then can command staff effectively leverage data to make decisions.

Regular CompStat meetings are one way command staff leverage data to make decisions. In order to truly modernize CompStat meetings, department leadership need timely and accurate information to effectively deploy resources and leverage the best tactics in the field, as well as a method to measure the efficacies of the strategies and tactics the department uses in real time.

Unfortunately, after all the manual work required to make sense of data – for a CompStat meeting, reporting to elected officials, or any other reason – the data leadership is using to drive their decisions is probably out of date.

With Peregrine, this kind of work takes minutes instead of days or weeks.

The platform integrates all a department’s data into one place, automating visualizations of key data in real time, like case closure rate, 911 call response time, and open cases per detective. By connecting disparate data together, command staff – along with everyone in the department – can see the bigger picture and understand key factors driving things like violent crime rates or 911 call response times. Peregrine then helps everyone in the department act based on their data, shrinking the delta between decision-making and effective response.

Improved crime reduction efforts

Data-driven policing is especially important for reducing and preventing crimes, which is one of the primary responsibilities for law enforcement agencies. Today, there’s more crime and fewer law enforcement officers to confront it. Personnel and resource deployment decisions are existential, and leadership must be equipped with the data to get it right.

Because Peregrine integrates all of a department’s data into one platform and updates it in real-time, supervisors can monitor caseloads, assess officer performance, track accountability metrics, and adjust where resources are allocated based on the greatest need and impact — in one platform.

Without these data-driven insights, crime prevention efforts are often geared towards an entire community. This is not only an inefficient allocation of resources, but it can also erode trust between the communities law enforcement serves and potentially make crime worse.

Peregrine equips decision makers with data on the root causes of crime, including accurate data on crime trends and involved persons, so they can make intentional choices and better help the victims of crime — even with less personnel in the field or at HQ.

End costly technology investments that don’t work

Personnel isn’t the only limited resource departments must manage — every dollar public safety agencies spend is scrutinized and must be well-spent. Command staff often must choose between new police vehicles for patrol and new technologies to help keep their officers safer and empower them to be better at their jobs.

Unfortunately, over-budget, lengthy technology implementations that over-promise and under-deliver are all too common within state and local government agencies, public safety and law enforcement departments included.

One of the most common and costly expenditures we see are computer-aided dispatch (CAD) and record management systems (RMS) transitions. In 2019, the Green Bay police department struggled with the implementation and deployment of a new, $1.2M CAD system. The police chief said, "It's definitely impacting our ability to do our jobs ... our hardest workers, the real go-getters out there, are the ones least satisfied" with the system change.

RMS and CAD systems don’t always work well together — or with other systems — which siloes important information, like 911 call transcripts detailing an incident. This can make it difficult for patrol officers to get the information they need when responding to a call for service, potentially facing a violent encounter or for detectives to make connections between disparate data to better solve crimes. And like any technology transition, sometimes data can be corrupted or lost, which can further stunt operations for everyone with the department.

Whether it’s data loss or ineffective systems, the results are hindered operations that put communities at risk, too much money spent, and administrative work for public safety personnel — time that is too valuable to waste with the limited resources public safety agencies have.

Peregrine works with any computer-aided dispatch (CAD) and record management system (RMS) as well as all other external, interagency, or authorized external data sources — together into one platform.

With Peregrine, interoperability or data loss is a problem of the past. We’ve saved departments between $100,000 and $250,000 on average on consulting fees alone per RMS or CAD transition, to say nothing of the time and money saved when costly technology investments that don’t work are eliminated.

A lot of our team members are former law enforcement officers and leaders. We know firsthand how thin public safety agencies are stretched, and how high the expectations for results are.

Let us help you navigate the new normal. Get in touch today.

About Ed Padinske

Ed Padinske comes from a public service-oriented family and is a former Navy Captain and Intelligence Officer. He served as a Senior Duty Officer in the White House Situation Room on and after 9/11, on six aircraft carriers, and in a range of Special Operations positions from commanding the Joint Special Operations Intelligence Brigade to Senior Intelligence Officer for all of the Navy’s SEAL Teams. He currently focuses on helping public safety institutions serve better through decision infrastructure capabilities at Peregrine, and in his spare time serves on a non-profit board that supports first responders and veterans facing mental health crises.