Situational-awareness technologies helped a suburban police department in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex coordinate more than three dozen officers from eight jurisdictions in a regional three-day sting operation.
The sting showed police and public safety leaders in Mansfield, Texas, the potential of using a modern, cloud-based platform to coordinate personnel and information to take criminal suspects off the streets. The operation also revealed the value of using an emergency operations center (EOC) to pull double duty as a police tactical-command center.
THE CHALLENGE: ORCHESTRATING A THREE-DAY STING OPERATION WITH EIGHT JURISDICTIONS
The city of Mansfield is about 30 miles southwest of downtown Dallas with a population of about 80,000 people. As part of a regional task force Mansfield faced the challenge of finding a solution to coordinate the various agencies involved.
In 2022, city leaders upgraded their EOC to include a video wall and numerous computer stations for managing disasters and large emergencies in real time. “I was looking for software that would give us better situational awareness so everybody could look at the same map and information, no matter where they were at,” recalled Greg Cutler, Mansfield’s Emergency Manager and 29-year veteran of Mansfield Fire Department.
As part of the upgrade, the EOC needed a software platform to provide mapping and centralize communications via text, push-to-talk and live video streams. Cutler and his team chose DragonForce, which uses GPS location tools and mobile apps linked to a cloud-based software platform.
“One piece of software allows us to share everything in one place,” Cutler said. He and a few coworkers started testing the software to get a sense of its behaviors and performance. But they needed a real-world proving ground. How would they connect officers to the platform who had never used the software before? Could it deliver the real-time locations of officers closing in on their suspects? Could it provide data layers that could be turned on and off as needed?
A three-day, eight-jurisdiction sting operation with more than three dozen officers delivered all the proof they needed.
THE SOLUTION: DRAGONFORCE MOBILE TEAM COLLABORATION PLATFORM
This technology provided a fresh perspective to police commanders managing the three-day sting operation. Feeds from surveillance cameras in multiple locations appeared on the EOC’s video wall, which was mapped in DragonForce. “We could watch them move in real time on the map, and then we could see them on camera as they pulled up on the incident,” Cutler recalled.
The DragonForce software included a mobile app downloaded to each of the officers’ smartphones. To be onboarded into the platform, officers scanned a QR code and created login credentials. Each officer’s digital account included a colored icon that showed up in the GPS map built into the DragonForce app.
About 80% of the officers had never used the app before. Even so, training time was minimal. “It’s pretty simple,” Cutler said. “Give them a 10- to 15-minute overview of it and then let them get out there and do what they need to do.”
The officers appreciated the app’s location capabilities. “If they did have to chase somebody down, then everybody knew where they were at,” Cutler added. Moreover, they could look at the DragonForce map to see the locations of fellow officers.
DragonForce also includes a push-to-talk tool that lets commanders in the EOC communicate with officers in the field. “You talk to them over the phone just like you would a radio,” Cutler said.
The software lets commanders create incidents they plan to monitor. They can also divide an incident into subgroups serving different functions. Police could be in one subgroup and EMS personnel in another. While the line officers in each subgroup could be prevented from seeing what’s happening in another group, commanders can configure incidents so they can see everything happening in each subgroup.
THE RESULTS: BETTER COMMUNICATION AND COORDINATION ACROSS JURISDICTIONS
Interoperability is the test of a software platform for public safety and police. Firefighters answer mutual-aid calls and city police officers work with sheriff’s deputies, state police and federal authorities. The collaboration tools built into the DragonForce platform deliver that kind of interoperability in Mansfield.
The city also enjoys advanced mapping capabilities that pay off in tactical situations. Commercial structures and homes can be fully mapped, and officers can be assigned specific locations before moving in. “For a common operating picture, it’s exceptional,” Cutler said. “It allows you to see that everybody’s in place where you want them when executing your operation.”
The fire department is implementing new GPS-enabled radios for its firefighters, who generally don’t take smartphones along when fighting fires. The DragonForce software will track those radios’ locations, as well and help command locate any personnel should they be missing in a structure fire or spread out on a large grass fire. This software is a huge help in coordinating first responders at large incidents.
The technology shows that even midsize cities can implement powerful situational awareness and collaboration software. “We can sit here in the emergency operations center and watch the whole thing like you’re watching it on TV, with all the mapping, video and everything else,” Cutler said. City police can now use the EOC for tactical oversight situations.
The officers who participated in the sting operation really appreciated the capabilities. “They loved it,” said Cutler. “They thought it was great.”
For more information, visit Drakontas.
